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SPEECHES 



HENRY pLAY, 

DELIVERED IN THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES; 

TO AVHICH IS PREFIXED 

A BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR; 

WITH AN APPENDIX 



CONTAINING HIS SPEECHES AT LEXINGTON AND LEWISBURGH, AND 
BEFORE THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY AT WASHINGTON; TOGETH- 
ER WITH HIS ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS, ON THE SUBJECT 
OF THE LATE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION; 



WITH A PORTRAIT. 



PUBLISHED BY H. C. CAREY, & I. LEA, PHILADELPHIA: — G. & C. 
CARVILL, NEW YORK:— JAMES W. PALMER, & W. W. WORSLEY, 
LEXINGTON, K. — J. P. MORTON, LOUISVILLE, K. AND DRAKE & 
OONCLIN, CINCINNATr. 

PRINTED BY JAMES MAXWELL. 

1827. 






EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNYLVANIA, to wit: 

BE IT Remembered, that on the twenty-seventh day of March, in 
the fifty-first year of the independence of the United States of America, 
A. D. 1827, H. C. Carey, and I. Lea, of the said district, hath deposited 
in this office the title of a book, the right whereof they claim as proprie- 
tors, in the words following, to wit: 

The Speeches of Henry Clay, delivered in the Congress of the United Slates; to 
which is prefixed a Biographical Memoir; With an appendix, containing his 
speeches at Lexington, and Lewisburgh, and before the Colonization Society at 
Washington; together loilh his address to his Constitttents, on the subject of the 
late Presidential election. With a Portrait. 

In conformity to the act of the congress of the United States, inti- 
tuled " An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the 
copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such 
copies, during the times therein mentioned." — And also to the act, 
entitled, " An act supplementary to an act entitled, " An act for the 
encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and 
books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times 
therein mentioned," and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of 
designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." 

D. CALDWELL, 
Clerk of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



^ 



^ 



CONTENTS. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH of Mr. Clay, - 


vii 


SPEECH on Manufactures, 


- 1 


The line of the Perdido, 


6 


The Bank Charter, - 


- 18 


Augmentation of Military Force, 


32 


Increase of the Navy, 


- 40 


The new Army Bill, 


51 


The Emancipation of South America, 


- 74 


Internal Improvement, 


107 


The Seminole War, 


- 132 


Mission to South America, 


162 


The Tariff, 


- 182 


The Spanish Treaty, - 


206 


Mission to South Ameiica, 


- 222 


Internal Improvement, 


230 


The Greek Revolution, - 


254 


American Industry, - - . 


- 263 


APPENDIX. 




The Colonization of the Negroes, 


315 


The Bank Question, 


- 340 


Address to Constituents, 


347 


Speech at Lewisburgh, _ . . 


- 372 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MR. CLAY. 

The lives of distinguished men are so naturally subjects of 
curiosity, that the reader of this volume will probably expect 
such biographical information in regard to Mr. Clay, as it is in 
our power to communicate. His public career is so closely inter- 
woven with the annals of his country for the last twenty years, 
that we resign to history her appropriate task of recording it; 
and chiefly propose, in the ensuing sketch, to narrate those inci- 
dents of his life which are not generally known, and which we 
believe, on sufficient authority, to be authentic. 

Henry Clay was born on the 1 2th of April, 1777, in Hanover 
county, in the state of Virginia. He was very young when his 
father, a respectable clergyman, died. His mother became united, 
in a second marriage, with Mr. Henry Watkins; who removed 
with his family to Woodford county, Kentucky, where they still 
reside, highly esteemed by all to whom they are known. At an 
early age, Henry was placed in the office of the late Mr. Tins- 
ley, clerk of the high court of chancery, at Richmond, Virginia, 
and while in that situation, he attracted, by his striking intellec- 
tual powers and discreet deportment, the attention, first of 
chancellor Wythe, and afterwards of governor Brooke. The 
advice of these distinguished men, coinciding, perhaps, with his 
own secret aspirations, determined him to study law. The en- 
ergy of his mind, and the assiduity of his studies enabled him, 
at the age of twenty, to obtain a license to practice. He im- 
mediately went to Lexington, Kentucky, but did not, for some 
months afterwards, commence his professional career. During 
the interval, he was closely employed in continuing his legal stu- 
dies, and he also became a member of a society instituted for 
the purpose of improvement in public speaking. 

From a gentleman who became acquainted with Mr. Clay on 



viii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

his arrival at Lexington, we learn that he was then very slender 
in make, thin, and apparently feeble in constitution; that his 
walk seemed to want vigour, and that the niovement of his 
limbs was slow and spiritless. The same gentleman mentions 
that about this period, a distinguished literary resident of Lex- 
ington remarked, that Mr. Clay's colloquial style was more ha- 
bitually elegant and correct than that of any young man of the 
same age, whom he had ever known. 

For a long time, Mr. Clay's province in the society seemed 
that of a listener only; and he was first induced to participate 
in its discussions by a circumstance of which, as every incident 
in the progress of genius is interesting, it may gratify the reader 
to be informed. At one of its meetings the vote was about to 
be taken on the question which had been debated, when Mr. 
Clay observed in an audible whisper, that the subject did not 
appear to him to have been exhausted. Several members who 
were desirous to hear him, immediately exclaimed, " do not put 
the question yet — Mr. Clay is going to speak." The chairman 
paused, and looked towards Mr. Clay, who, thus called on, rose 
in evident embarrassment. Instead of addressing the chair, he 
began by saying — " Gentlemen of the jury," forgetting in his 
agitation, where he was, and thinking of the tribunal which he 
had probably, in imagination, often addressed; for he had not 
then, as our informant believes, ever spoken at the bar. The 
members, fearing to increase his agitation, endeavoured to con- 
ceal their perception of his mistake; and proceeding through oc- 
casional repetitions of it, and frequent blushes, he at length ac- 
quired confidence, and astonished his hearers by an argument 
of convincing force, clothed in the most appropriate language, 
and uttered in the same firm and finely modulated voice, which 
has since, in graver assemblies, rendered his eloquence the " sove- 
reign of the willing soul." It is difficult to restrain the fancy 
which sees in this youthful effort, the germ of the future orator 
of South American independence, and the champion of his coun- 
try's insulted lionour. 

From the date of tlie anecdote just related, Mr. Clay became 



OF MR. CLAY. ix 

a frequent and conspicuous speaker in the debating society at 
Lexington. It was observed that his attendance was regular; 
and that he always came provided with the learning necessary 
for the subjects of discussion; that his arguments were remark- 
able for strength and perspicuity, and that his appeals to the 
passions were so earnest and so skilful that they seldom failed 
to persuade. Shortly after this time, he was admitted to the 
bar, as a practitioner in the quarter session court of Fayette 
county, a court of general jurisdiction, and at the first term 
got into full practice. This early success, though mainly attri- 
butable to the superiority of his genius, and to the solidity of his 
information on the principles of law, was no doubt promoted 
by the familiarity with the practical learning of the profession 
which his connexion with Mr. Tinsley had enabled him to ac- 
quire. His reputation as a lawyer, and as a forensic orator, con- 
tinually increased; and his profits were commensurate with it, 
until his entrance on the theatre of politics suspended his pro- 
fessional pursuits. 

His political career may be said to have commenced, when 
the people of Kentucky were about electing a convention to 
form a new constitution for that state. An interesting feature 
of the proposed plan was a provision for the gradual eradication 
of slavery. In the canvass preceding the election of members 
of the convention, the voice and pen of Mr. Clay were exerted 
in promoting the choice of delegates favourable to this just and 
beneficent provision; but unfortunately without effect. The op- 
posite party prevailed; but time and reflection are constantly 
swelling the list of converts to the measure devised by the ear- 
ly wisdom of Mr. Clay; a measure recommended as well by ex- 
pediency as by humanity. In asserting the principle of eman- 
cipation, he has ever been as fearless, as he has been uniform in 
recommending only gradual means for reducing it to practice; 
and it will please the admirers of this great statesman, to find 
an additional illustration, in the anecdote we have related, of 
the consistency which is so striking a beauty of his character. 

Kentucky was among the first of the states which raised their 



X BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

voices against the sedition law, and other acts of the dominant 
party in 1798 — 99. The important aid which on every public oc- 
casion, Mr. Clay gave to Mr. George Nicholas in denouncing 
this law, his eloquent vindications of the freedom of the press, 
the graces of his elocution, his fervid devotion to the cause of 
liberty, and the unassuming simplicity of his manners, seemed 
already to justify the title of " The great Commoner," which 
was afterwards bestowed on him. So early were the people just 
to his merits, that about the period to which we have adverted, 
he was elected to represent Fayette county in the more nume- 
rous branch of the state legislature; having been brought for- 
ward as a candidate without his knowledge, and during his ab- 
sence from the county. Very shortly after his appearance on 
this more extended theatre, he became a prominent member; 
and in the course of a few sessions was chosen to the office of 
speaker, the duties of which he discharged with the same dig- 
nity and impartiality that subsequently characterized his ad- 
ministration of a similar office on another tloor. On occasions 
when that officer was allowed to join in debate, he exerted, often 
in conflict with the ablest men in the state, all the energies of 
commanding and resistless eloquence. During this time, he was 
also engaged in a laborious and lucrative practice; and was con- 
spicuous for the exact preparation of his causes, which, when 
called for trial, were always, so far as depended on himself, 
ready. Whenever circumstances permitted the advantage, he 
examined the subject minutely, before s^jeaking. Such were the 
rapidity and intuitive powers of his mind, that he was often sus- 
pected of arguing a cause without previous investigation. But 
when, as often occurs at the bar, he was called by some immedi- 
ate exigency to speak, he applied himself, during the few mo- 
ments that could be snatched for reflection with intense and ex- 
clusive devotion to the subject, and being endued with a degree 
of self possession seldom associated with ardent genius, he em- 
ployed the interval, without apparent hurry or bustle, in metho- 
dizing his intended address. He might, perhaps, have explain- 
ed the symmetry of his movements through crowded and per- 



OF MR. CLAY. xi 

plexing engagements, by saying, as another distinguished man 
once answered the inquiry, " how he could accomplish so much 
businesss so soon," " that he did only one thing at a time." 

The gentleman to whom we are already so much indebted, 
relates an incident of Mr. Clay's professional life, which illus- 
trates his remarkable faculty of abstracting his mind from every 
thing but the direct object of its meditation, a faculty peculiar- 
ly useful at the bar. Mr. Clay was engaged with another gen- 
tleman of high professional standing, to defend an action, of 
great interest to the litigants, in the Fayette circuit court. Some- 
thing occurred which obliged him to leave the court house at 
the moment when the cause was called, and it was managed by 
his colleague. Nearly two days were exhausted in arguing the 
points of law, of which the case was fruitful, according to the 
practice common in Kentucky, of praying the instructions of 
the court to the jury, in all of which his colleague was foiled by 
the opposite counsel. On the evening of the second day, Mr. 
Clay was enabled to return to court. He was unacquainted with 
the facts of the case, and had heard nothing of the testimony 
which had been given by the numerous witnesses. But, after con- 
ferring for a few moments with his colleague, he prepared a short 
statement of the form in which he desired the instruction of the 
court; accompanying his application with a few remarks, which 
threw so strong a light upon the subject, that the judge could not 
avoid perceiving the propriety of the prayer. It was granted; the 
verdict of the jury was in accordance with it; and Mr. Clay 
thus in half an hour, terminated the controversy favourably to 
his client. 

With the events of Mr. Clay's political life, the public are 
too familiar, to justify us in yielding to the temptation of des- 
cribing them with a minuteness which would be disproportionate 
to the design and limits of this sketch. At an unusually early 
age, he was twice chosen by the general assembly of Kentucky 
to servft in the senate of the United States, during the residue 
of terms which had become vacant by the resignation of his 
predecesEors. At the expiration of his second term of service 



xii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

in the senate, he oiFered himself as a candidate for a seat in the 
other house, and was elected without diiSiculty. At the first 
session which he attended, he was chosen speaker of the house 
of representatives of the United States. Of his dignity and im- 
partiality in discharging the duties of that station, it is unneces- 
sary that we should speak. They form one of the brightest pa- 
ges in our history; and eulogy is prevented by the eloquent fact, 
that during the many years of his presidency over the house of 
representatives, not one of his decisions, as speaker, was re- 
versed by that enlightened body. 

To enumerate the various measures for advancing the inter- 
ests and upholding the honour of his country, of which Mr. 
Clay was the projector or the most conspicuous advocate, would 
be not merely to obtrude on the historian's walk — it would be 
to write the annals of the United States for twenty years. His 
early perception of the necessity of a war with Great Britain; 
the intrepidity with which " he stood for his country's glory fast;" 
his sagacity in devising and his eloquence in vindicating plans 
for her successful progress through an inevitable contest; and 
his agency in procuring from her proud enemy an honorable 
peace; are facts yet fresh in her grateful lecollection. The par- 
ticulars of his mission to Ghent, are, from the nature of the sub- 
ject, less generally' known than his other efforts connected with 
the war. But we have often heard, what the magnanimity of 
his colleagues will doubtless be prompt to acknowledge, that 
during the frequent verbal discussions among themselves, as well 
as between the representatives of the two governments, Mr. 
Clav always performed a distinguished part. 

While absent in Europe, he was again elected to congress; 
a theatre which, probably from his characteristic fondness for 
whatever is immediately connected with the people, he seems 
always to have preferred. Influenced by this inclination, he re- 
sisted invitations from president Madison, of whose policy he 
■was the champion, and whose personal character he warmly es- 
teemed, to accept a mission to Russia, and a place in the cabi- 
net of that illustrious magistrate. He was also solicited, strenu- 



OF MR. CLAY. xiii 

ously, but unavailingly, by president Monroe, to preside over 
the department of war, and subsequently to accept a mission to 
England. During the greater part of Mr. Monroe's administra- 
tion, different opinions were entertained by himself and Mr. 
Clay, on some subjects of important concern to the Union. Of 
these one of the most conspicuous, was the constitutional power 
of congress to effect internal improvements. Doubts as to this 
power were by no means confined to the president; and to Mr. 
Clay's able, persevering efforts to remove them, is generally, 
and we believe, justly ascribed the opinion in favor of the power 
which may now be considered as legislatively settled. While 
urging, with untiring energy, the employment of the resources 
of his own country in advancing her prosperity, he was not un- 
mindful of the cause of freedom throughout the world, nor of 
its claims on the sympathy of an American statesman. Believ- 
ing that the recognition by the United States of the independ- 
ence which the South American colonies had declared, would 
encourage their struggle for emancipation without jeopardizing 
our neutrality, and aware of the commercial advantages to our- 
selves of that measure, he proposed it to the house of representa- 
tives. He found himself, however, unexpectedly opposed by the 
whole strength of the administration; and the most eloquent 
oration which was, perhaps, ever pronounced in congress, 
failed to convince. But time was not slow in confirming its ar- 
guments, and South American independence was, through his 
persevering exertions, acknowledged by the United States at a 
subsequent period, when the historian will find but few reasons 
in favour of the measure which did not exist when Mr. Clay 
originally urged its adoption. This act of our government may 
be regarded as the triumph of its first proposer over misconcep- 
tion and prejudice, and as an honorable evidence of his forecast 
and sagacity. 

On another occasion, when dilatory acquiescence in his coun- 
sels might have been more dangerous, it was his good fortune to 
preserve the peace of the Union, by reconciling parties between 
whom both principle and passion had interposed an alarming 



xiv BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

gulf. The advocates and the opponents of the unconditional re- 
ception of Missouri into the Union, were both strong in numbers 
and in talent; each professed to range itself under the banners 
of the constitution; and their angry contention had become 
menacing to all that Americans held dear. The circumstances 
attending this controversy are too recent in the history of this 
nation, to permit any abatement of the liveliness of its gratitude 
to the master spirit who dispelled the gathering storm. It is 
generally admitted that Mr. Clay was the only public man who 
could have succeeded in the patriotic mediation which he ef- 
fected. 

Of other conspicuous features of Mr. Clay's congressional ca- 
reer, his plan for employing the industry of the country in ren- 
dering her independent on foreign nations for the necessities 
and ordinary comforts of life, is remarkable for the vigor with 
■which it was opposed, and for the benefits which have resulted 
from its adoption. They fully realize the predictions he uttered, 
when anouncing his American system for encouraging domestic 
manufactures, and there seems no reason to doubt that the far- 
ther development of that system will evince it to be the true 
policy of our country. 

After many previous favours from the people, a farther and 
highly honorable testimony of their esteem for Mr. Clay was af- 
forded in his nomination by the states of Ohio, Kentucky, Lou- 
isiana and Missouri, as their candidate for the presidency. With 
the events succeeding that nomination, every reader is so fami- 
liar, that it is scarcely necessary for us to advert even to the 
calumnies which disappointed factions strove to accumulate on 
his fame; to his promptitude in repelling them, and in challeng- 
ing inquiry: to the evasions by his enemies of this inquiry; nor 
to the repetition of these slanders, with an obstinacy which is 
made rancorous by refutation. The friends of their country's 
honor may regret that it has been assailed in the person of her 
faithful and favourite servant; and the personal friends of Mr. 
Clay may expect, with undoubting confidence, that the impar- 
tial historian will refer to the acts of his life which political 



OF MR. CLAY. xv 

envy has most loudly blamed, as signal examples of his inde- 
pendence, firmness, and patriotism. 

The Speeches contained in this volume were delivered prin- 
cipally in the house of representatives, and most of them on the 
highest questions of national policy. Though imperfectly report- 
ed, they will give the reader some idea of all the characteristics 
of Mr. Clay's eloquence, except his elocution. Of this, as in the 
case of most orators, only the hearer can form an adequate con- 
ception. 

Mr. Clay is tall, and thin, but muscular: his appearance dig- 
nified, and rather stately: his eyes are of a blue, or dark gray 
colour, and not very large, and when he is warmed by his sub- 
ject, beam with peculiar animation and fire. His forehead is 
high, and his mouth, the feature on which Lavater lays such 
stress, strongly indicates genius and firmness. The expression 
of his countenance is commanding: his voice clear, deep-toned, 
and exquisitely modulated. In this respect, as well as in figure 
and manner, he is said by those who have heard the younger Pitt 
speak, to resemble very much that celebrated orator; and the 
parallel might be extended to many points of their characters. 
His deportment is deliberate, grave, and courteous; and in speak- 
ing, a sincerity and earnestness mark his whole manner, which 
at once enlist the sympathies of his audience in his favor, and 
his whole soul seems to be thrown into his subject. His intel- 
lellectual march is rapid and imposing. Disdaining rhetorical 
artifxe, he pours out masses of thought with wonderful celerity, 
and in magnificent succession. Though his logic, like that of De- 
mosthenes, is severe, his speeches are never dry, because, he re- 
sorts to every topic of moral illustration which is appropriate to 
the subject. He rarely leaves any thing for the understanding 
or sensibilities of his hearer to desire; but his style is, neverthe- 
less, concise. It is indeed characteristic both of his eloquence 
and of his conversation, that he employs as few words in cloth- 
ing an idea, as are consistent with its graceful expression; and 
that these words can seldom be changed without injury to the 
thought. In the use of the pathetic he has, we think, never 



xvi BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

been excelled on the floor of congress; and the edge of his satire 
is keen and resistless. Among the cardinal qualities of his mind, 
are its originality, its reliance on its own resources, and its 
" undeceivableand undeceiving sagacity." His temper is warm 
and generous; and his manners so plainly indicate a high-mind- 
ed, frank, and honourable spirit, that few men, (however awed 
by his fame,) have ever been admitted to his acquaintance, with- 
out imbibing an attachment to his person, which politicians very 
rarely inspire. Elevated by the people, he is essentially a re- 
publican, and his high endowments have been devoted to their 
cause. But he has never hesitated to risk even their favor, in 
support of what he considered principle; and the people have 
never deserted him. 

The department of state, over which Mr. Clay now presides, 
is known to be, in consequence of the gradual increase of its 
ordinary business, and of the addition to its diplomatic labor, 
produced by our new relations to South America, twofold as 
onerous as it was during the incumbency of his predecessors. 
The ability with which he administers it is universally admitted; 
and corroborates an opinion we have always entertained, that 
if he is admirable for political consistency, he is not less so for 
intellectual versatility. In England, where the human mind 
flourishes under the protection of literary institutions, and of a 
government in whicli the popular principle is, though slightly, 
infused, it is uncommon for an individual who has attained emi- 
nence in one path of mind, to attempt another with success. 
Even Erskine, who, as a forensic orator, was unrivalled among 
his countrymen, sunk into relative insignificance, when i)rought 
into collision with the master-spirits of the British parliament. 
In our own country, examples have indeed existed, and still 
exist, of men distinguished at the bar, who could engage in po- 
litical life without a material decrease of reputation. But the 
instance of Mr. Clay is, we apprehend, the only one presented 
by the history either of England, or the United States, where 
the highest fame at the b;ir, in the senate, and in the cabinet, 
distinguishes the same individual. 



OF MR. CLAY. xvii 

The outlines of Mr. Clay's public life have been sketched in 
the foregoing memoir with a pen necessarily rapid. It may not be 
amiss, in conclusion, to point out to public attention with some- 
what more distinctness and emphasis, the striking consistency 
and yalue of his political services. Great orators are not always 
useful public men. The laws which govern the motion of genius 
are not easily discernible; and it too often happens that a mis- 
taken ambition of shining seduces from the sober path of public 
duty, menwhohave the capacity of being public benefactors. Such 
has not been the case with Mr. Clay. It is impossible to look, 
however superficially, at his political career, without being sa- 
tisfied, that possessing talents to soar and dazzle, he has always 
preferred the honest ambition of serving the best interests of his 
country. From the outset of his life, he appears to have had his 
eye steadily fixed on principle; and, though never regardless of 
popular favor, the excitement of the moment seems not to have 
impeded his course for an instant. In his opposition to the alien 
and sedition laws, we perceive the first evidence of that sedu- 
lous regard for public liberty which has uniformly governed him. 
He had scarcely taken his seat in congress, when we find him es- 
pousing the cause of domestic industry — then but a feeble and 
sickly infant — but which through his nursing care, with a zeal 
and constancy which, in earlier times and other countries, would 
have won for him civic crowns and grateful laurels, has ripened 
into a broad and successful system, and is destined to enrich 
and strengthen the country when its opponents are forgotten. 
Closely connected with this great cause, is that of internal im- 
provement, in which Mr. Clay's exertions have been no less sig- 
nal and beneficial. He vindicated and established the constitu- 
tional right of congress to do this public good; and not content with 
proving the right, he laboured to direct the practical exercise of it 
into the safest channels. When foreign outrage left us no alterna- 
tive than a resort to arms, Mr. Clay was one of the foremost to 
maintain the dignity and honour of the country. Possessing that 
" courage of the cabinet" — political intrepidity — which is truly 



xviii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

said to be far nobler and more rare than the courage of the field, 
he adhered with unabated spirit to the principles with which the 
contest was begun, through all the vicissitudes of that eventful pe- 
riod, and finally rendered his country the most valuable services in 
finishing the war, when its causes were withdrawn. The same ho- 
nest and fearless devotion to his country's true interests, is visible 
in his public conduct, when the subject of general Jackson's 
high-handed career in Florida was brought before the house of 
representatives. Military renown had neither charms nor terror 
for Mr, Clay. He thought that the constitution of the United 
States was violated, and the laws of nations and of humanity 
insulted by the proceedings towards the Spaniards and Indians, 
and he made manifest the soundness of that opinion, in the speech 
which forms part of the present collection. It is worthy of re- 
mark, that the judgment pronounced by Mr. Clay in 1818, upon 
general Jackson, was fully sustained and vindicated by him 
and by congress six years afterwards, when it became neces- 
sary to decide between Mr. Adams and the invader of Florida, 
as candidates for the presidency of the United States. 

Mr. Clay's exertions in favor of acknowledging the inde- 
pendence of South America, have been noticed in the preced- 
ing sketch. They form one of the brightest pages of his his- 
tory, and even his political opponents have been forced to admit 
the purity of his motives, the vigor of his argument, the power 
of his eloquence, and the sagacity of his counsel. Disdaining to 
wait for the co-operation of any other power, he was for a mag- 
nanimous recognition of a free people so soon as they proved 
themselves capable of sustaining the burden of government; 
and in this, and his more recent official labours in respect to 
the congress of American states at Panama, the reader will 
perceive another evidence of the admirable consistency of his 
devotion to public freedom, which shed its first gleams on the 
cause of emancipation in Kentucky, and by degrees rose into 
that broad and ardent light which shone out upon surrounding 
nations, and still continues to animate and guide them. 

In a review of Mr. Clay's political, or congressional history, we 



OF MR. CLAY. xix 

ought not to overlook his exertions in support of the great de- 
fences of the country. For one of these — the navy — the people 
of the Atlantic states are under obligations to him — of the ex- 
tent of which, they are perhaps ignorant. The glory of the navy 
is national property, but its services are confparatively sec- 
tional. It is seen only on the sea-board — with the exception of 
the country on the lakes — the expenditures for its support are 
made in the Atlantic cities, and the honors and emoluments be- 
longing to it, fall chietly on that section of the Union. Hence it 
has happened, that, although the hearts of the people of the west 
echoed the plaudits bestowed upon our naval heroes, the popu- 
larity of the navy was naturally less decided there than in 
other parts of the Union. To Mr. Clay's eloquent and earnest 
exertions, it is mainly owing that the west has lent its united 
support to the navy. We may refer to his speech on that subject, 
as one of the manliest and most honorable proceedings of his 
congressional career. 

To conclude this very hasty summary, in which we have 
been obliged to overlook some important topics — the admirers 
of Mr. Clay may safely challenge a comparison of that eminent 
orator and statesman, with any other public man of the age. 
Powerful talents and commanding eloquence, which distinguish 
him with many others, are not the features of Mr. Clay's cha- 
racter, upon which posterity will dwell with the most respect. 
"When the factions and the calumnies of the present day are 
past by, succeeding generations will pronounce a grateful eulo- 
gy upon his public services, and rank him among the most dis- 
tinguished public benefactors. Posterity will then pronounce 
with equal truth and justice, " During the course of a long and 
arduous public life, he made his country's interests the end and 
aim of his exertions. He never sacrificed a principle to secure 
the favor of a party, or yielded an opinion from the fear of its un- 
popularity. He sought first and principally the extension of 
republican freedom, and as the best means of securing it, la- 
bored with all the energy of his eloquence, to maintain unim- 
paired the union of the states. He incorporated himself with no 



XX BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MR. CLAY. 

party that regarded the general government in the light of an un- 
wieldy and inert mass powerless of good, but supported the true 
theory which regards the union as an active and vivifying prin- 
ciple, pervading all sections, cementing them together by the 
ties of mutual interest and convenience, and availing itself of 
its great resources to produce the most certain and expeditious 
communication between them. Finally, and above all, he posses- 
sed the firmness to resist the attractions of military glory, and 
the talent to dispel its delusions, and thus in all human probabi- 
lity, saved the republic from the gulf of a military despotism." 



SPEECHES, &c, 



ON MANUFACTURES. 

Speech in the Senate^ upon an amendment proposed to the 
Bill appropriating a sum of money for procuring muni- 
tions of War^ and for other purposes ^ delivered the 6th 
of Aprils 1810. 

Mr. President, 

The local interest of the quarter of the country, which 
I have the honour to represent, will apologize for the trouble 
I may give you on this occasion. My colleague has pro- 
posed an amendment to the bill before you, instructing the 
secretary of the navy, to provide supplies of cordage, sail- 
cloth, hemp, &c. and to give a preference to those of Ame- 
rican growth and manufacture. It has been moved by the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Lloyd) to strike out this 
part of the amendment; and in the course of the discussion 
which has arisen, remarks have been made on the general 
policy of promoting manufactures. The propriety of this 
policy is, perhaps, not very intimately connected with the 
subject before us; but it is, nevertheless, within the legiti- 
mate and admissible scope of debate. Under this impres- 
sion I oifer my sentiments. 

In inculcating the advantages of domestic manufactures, 
it never entered the head, I presume, of any one, to change 
the habits of the nation from an agricultural to a manufac- 
turing community. No one, I am persuaded, ever thought 
of converting the plough-share and the sickle into the spin- 
dle and the shuttle. And yet this is the delusive and erro- 
neous view too often taken of the subject. The opponents 
of the manufacturing system transport themselves to the es- 
tablishments of Manchester and Birmingham, and dwell- 
ing on the indigence, vice, and wretchedness prevailing 
there, by pushing it to an extreme^ argue that its introduc- 
tion into this country will necessarily be attended by the 
6 



2 ON MANUFACTURES. 

same mischievous and dreadful consequences. But what is 
the fact? That England is the manufacturer of a great part 
of the world; and that, even there, the numbers thus em- 
ployed bear an inconsiderable proportion to the whole mass 
of population. Were we to become the manufacturers of 
other nations, effects of the same kind might result. But if 
we limit our efforts, by our own wants, the evils apprehend- 
ed would be found to be chimerical. The invention and im- 
provement of machinery, for which the present age is so re- 
markable, dispensing in a great degree with manual labour^ 
and the employment of those persons, who, if we were 
engaged in the pursuit of agriculture alone, would be either 
unproductive, or exposed to indolence and immorality, will 
enable us to supply our wants without withdrawing our at- 
tention from agriculture; that first and greatest source of 
national wealth and happiness. A judicious American farm- 
er, in the household way, manufactures whatever is re- 
quisite for his family. He squanders but little in the gew- 
gaws of Europe. He presents in epitome what the nation 
ought to be in extenso. Their manufactories should bear the 
same proportion, and effect the same object in relation to 
the whole community, which the part of his household em- 
ployed in domestic manufacturing, bears to the whole fam- 
ily. It is certainly desirable that the exports of the country 
should continue to be the surplus production of tillage, and 
not become those of manufacturing establishments. But it 
is important to diminish our imports — to furnish ourselves 
with clothing, made by our own industry — and to cease to 
be dependent, for the very coats we wear, upon a foreign 
and perhaps inimical country. The nation that imports its 
clothing from abroad is but little less dependent than if it 
imported its bread. 

The fallacious course of reasoning urged against domestic 
manufactures, namely, the distress and servitude produced 
by those of England, would equally indicate the propriety 
of abandoning agriculture itself. Were you to cast your 
eyes upon the miserable peasantry of Poland, and revert to 
the days of feudal vassalage, you might thence draw nu- 
merous arguments of the kind now under consideration 
against the pursuits of the husbandman! What would be- 
come of commerce, the favorite theme of some gentlemen, 
if assailed with this sort of weapon? The fraud, perjury, 
cupidity and corruption with which it is unhappily too often 



ON MANUFACTURES. 5 

attended, would at once produce its overthrow. In short, 
sir, take the black side of the picture and every human oc- 
cupation will be found pregnant with fatal objections. 

The opposition to manufacturing institutions recalls to 
my recollection the case of a gentleman, of whom I have 
heard. He had been in the habit of supplying his table from 
a neighbouring cook, and confectioner's shop, and proposed 
to his wife a reform, in this particular. She revolted at the 
idea. The sight of a scullion was dreadful, and her delicate 
nerves could not bear the clattering of kitchen furniture.— 
The gentleman persisted in his design; his table was thence- 
forth cheaper and better supplied, and his neighbour, the 
confectioner, lost one of his best customers. In like man- 
ner Dame Commerce will oppose domestic manufactures. 
She is a flirting, flippant, noisy jade, and if we are governed 
by her fantasies, we shall never put off the muslins of India 
and the cloths of Europe. But I trust that the yeomanry of 
the country, the true and genuine landlords of this tenement, 
called the United States, disregarding her freaks, will per- 
severe in reform, until the whole national family is furnish- 
ed by itself with the clothing necessary for its own use. 

It is a subject, no less of curiosity than of interest, to 
trace the prejudices in favour of foreign fabrics. In our 
colonial condition, we were in a complete state of depen- 
dence on the parent country, as it respected manufactures, 
as well as commerce. For many years after the war, such 
was the partiality for her productions, in this country, that 
a gentleman's head could not withstand the influence of 
solar heat, unless covered with a London hat — his feet could 
not bear the pebbles, or frost, unless protected by London 
shoes — and the comfort or ornament of his person was 
only consulted when his coat was cut out by the shears of 
a tailor "just from London." At length, however, the 
wonderful discovery has been made, that it is not absolutely 
beyond the reach of American skill and ingenuity, to pro- 
vide these articles, combining with equal elegance, greater 
durability. And I entertain no doubt, that in a short time, 
the no less important fact will be developed, that the do- 
mestic manufactories of the United States, fostered by 
government, and aided by household exertions, are fully 
competent to supply us with at least every necessary ar- 
ticle of clothing. I therefore, sir, for one (to use the fash- 
ionable cant of the day) am in favour of encouraging them, 



4 ON MANUFACTURES. 

not to the extent to which they are carried in England, but 
to such an extent as will redeem us entirely from all de- 
pendence on foreign countries. There is a pleasure — a 
pride, (if I may be allowed the expression, and I pity those 
who cannot feel the sentimentj in being clad in the pro- 
ductions of our own families. Others may prefer the cloths 
of Leeds and of London, but give me those of Humphreys- 
ville. 

Aid may be given to native institutions in the form of 
bounties and of protecting duties. But against bounties, it 
is urged that you tax the -tvhole for the benefit of a part 
only, of the community; and in opposition to duties it is 
alleged, that you make the interest of one part, the con- 
sumer, bend to the interest of another part, the manufac- 
turer. The sufficiency of the answer is not always admitted, 
that the sacrifice is merely temporary, being ultimately 
compensated by the greater abundance and superiority of 
the article produced by the stimulus. But, of all practi- 
cable forms of encouragement, it might have been expected 
that the one under consideration would escape opposition, 
if every thing proposed in Congress were not doomed to 
experience it. What is it? The bill contains two provi- 
sions — one prospective, anticipating the appropriation for 
clothing for the army, and the amendment proposes extend- 
ing it to naval supplies, for the year 1811 — and the other, 
directing a preference to be given to home manufactures, 
and productions, whenever it can be done xvithout material 
detriment to the public service. The object of the first is to 
authorize contracts to be made beforehand, with manufac- 
turers, and by making advances to them, under proper se- 
curity, to enable them to supply the articles wanted, in suf- 
ficient quantity. When it is recollected that they are fre- 
quently men of limited capitals, it will be acknowledged 
that this kind of assistance, bestowed with prudence, will 
be productive of the best results. It is in fact, only pur- 
suing a principle long acted upon, of advancing to contrac- 
tors with government, on account of the magnitude of their 
engagements. The appropriation contemplated to be made 
for the year 1811, may be restricted to such a sum as, 
whether we have peace or war, we must necessarily expend. 
The discretion is proposed to be vested in officers of high 
confidence, who will be responsible for its abuse, and who 
are enjoined to see that the public service receives no ma- 
terial detriment. It is stated that hemp is now very high, 



ON MANUFACTURES. 5 

and that contracts, made under existing circumstances, will 
be injurious to government. But the amendment creates 
no obligation upon the secretary of the navy, to go into 
market at this precise moment. In fact, by enlarging his 
sphere of action, it admits of his taking advantage of a fa- 
vourable fluctuation, and getting a supply below the accus- 
tomed price, if such a fall should occur prior to the usual 
annual appropriation. 

I consider the amendment, under consideration, of the 
first importance, in point of principle. It is evident that 
whatever doubt may be entertained, as to the general policy 
of the manufacturing system, none can exist, as to the pro- 
priety of our being able to furnish ourselves with articles of 
the first necessity, in time of war. Our maritime operations 
ought not, in such a state, to depend upon the casualties of 
foreign supply. It is not necessary that they should. With 
very little encouragement from government, I believe we 
shall not want a pound of Russia hemp. The increase of 
the article in Kentucky has been rapidly great. Ten years 
ago there were but two rope manufactories in the state. Now 
there are about twenty, and between ten and fifteen of cot- 
ton bagging; and the erection of new ones keeps pace with 
the annual augmentation of the quantity of hemp. Indeed 
the western country, alone, is not only adequate to the sup- 
ply of whatever of this article is requisite for our own con- 
sumption, but is capable of affording a surplus for foreign 
markets. The amendment proposed possesses the double 
recommendation of encouraging, at the same time both the 
manufacture and the growth of hemp. For by increasing 
the demand for the wrought article, you also increase the 
demand for the raw material, and consequently present new 
incentives to its cultivator. 

The three great subjects that claim the attention of the 
national legislature, are the interests of agriculture, com- 
merce, and manufactures. We have had before us, a pro- 
position to afford a manly protection to the rights of com- 
merce, and how has it been treated? Rejectedl You have 
been solicited to promote agriculture, by increasing the 
facilities of internal communication, through the means of 
canals and roads, and what has been done? Postponed! — 
We are now called upon to give a trifling support to our do- 
mestic manufactures, and shall we close the circle of con- 
gressional inefficiency, by adding this also to the catalogue? 



ON THE LINE OF THE PERDIDO. 

Speech in the Senate of the United States^ on the subject of the 
Territory west of the Perdido^ delivered 25th December, 
1810. 

Mr. President, 

It would have gratified me if some other gentleman had 
undertaken to reply to the ingenious argument, which you 
have just heard. (Speech of Mr. Horsey.) But not per- 
ceiving any one disposed to do so, a sense of duty obliges 
me, though very unwell, to claim your indulgence, whilst 
I offer my sentiments on this subject, so interesting to the 
union at large, but especially to the western portion of it. 
Allow me, sir, to express my admiration at the more than 
Aristidean justice, which in a question of territorial title., 
between the United States and a foreign nation, induces 
certain gentlemen to espouse the pretensions of the foreign 
nation. Doubtless in any future negociations, she will have 
too much magnanimity to availherself of these spontaneous 
concessions in her favour, made on the floor of the Senate 
of the United States. 

It was to have been expected that in a question like the 
present, gentlemen, even on the same side, would have dif- 
ferent views, and although arriving at a common conclu- 
sion would do so by various arguments. And hence thr 
honourable gentleman from Vermont, entertains doubt with 
regard to our title against Spain, whilst he feels entirely 
satisfied of it against France. Believing, as I do, that our 
title against both powers is indisputable, under the treaty of 
St. Ildefonso, between Spain and France, and the treaty be- 
tween the French Republic and the United States, I shall 
not inquire into the treachery, by which the king of Spain 
is alleged to have lost his crown; nor shall I stop to discuss 
the question involved in the overthrow of the Spanish mon- 
archy, and how far the power of Spain ought to be con- 
sidered as merged in that of France. I shall leave the hon- 
ourable gentleman from Delaware to mourn over the for- 
tunes of the fallen Charles. I have no commiseration for 
princes. My sympathies are reserved for the great mass of 
mankind, and I own that the people of Spain have them 
most sincerely. 



ON THE LINE OF THE PERDIDO. 7 

I will adopt the course suggested by the nature of the 
subject and pursued by other gentlemen, of examining into 
our title to the country lying between the Mississippi and 
the Rio Perdido, (which to avoid circumlocution, I will call 
West Florida, although it is not the whole of it — ) and the 
propriety of the recent measures taken for the occupation of 
that territory. Our title then depends, first, upon the 
limits of the province, or colony of Louisiana, and secondly, 
upon a just exposition of the treaties before mentioned. 

On this occasion it is only necessary to fix the eastern 
boundary. In order to ascertain this, it will be proper to 
take a cursory view of the settlement of the country, be- 
cause the basis of European title to colonies in America, is 
prior discovery, or prior occupancy. In 1682, La Salle mi- 
grated from Canada, then owned by France, descended the 
Mississippi, and named the country which it waters, Louis- 
iana. About 1698, D'Iberville discovered by sea, the mouth 
of the Mississippi, established a colony at the Isle Dau- 
phine, or Massacre, which lies at the mouth of the bay of 
Mobile, and one at the mouth of the river Mobile, and was 
appointed by France, governor of the country. In the year 
1717, the famous West India company sent inhabitants to 
the Isle Dauphine, and found some of those who had been 
settled there under the auspices of D'Iberville. About the 
same period, Baloxi, near the Pascagoula, was settled. In 
1719, the city of New Orleans was laid off, and the seat of 
.government of I^ouisiana was established there; and in 
1736, the French erected a fort on Tombigbee. These facts 
prove that France had the actual possession of the country 
as far east as the Mobile at least. But the great instrument 
which ascertains, beyond all doubt, that the country in 
question is comprehended within the limits of Louisiana, is 
one of the most authentic and solemn character which the 
archives of a nation can furnish: I mean the patent granted 
in 1712, by Louis XIV, to Crozat-^[Here Mr. C. read 
such parts of the patent as were applicable to the subject.*] 

* Extract from the Grant to Crozat, dated at 

" Fo7\tainbieau, Sept. 14, 1712. 
" Louis, By the grace of God, &c. 

" The care we have always had to procure the welfare and advantage 
of our subjects, having induced us, &c. to seek for all possible opportu- 
nities of enlarging- and extending the trade of our American colonies, 
we did, in the year 1683, give our orders to undertake a discovery of the 



8 ON THE LINE OF THE PERDIDO. 

According to this document, in describing the province, or 
colony of Louisiana, it is declared to be bounded by Carolina 
on the east, and Old and New Mexico on the West. Un- 
der this high record evidence, it might be insisted that we 
have a fair claim to East as well as West Florida, against 
France at least, unless she has by some convention, or other 
obligatory act, restricted the Eastern limit of the province. 
It has, indeed, been asserted that by a treaty between France 
and Spain, concluded in the year 1719, the Perdido was ex- 
pressly stipulated to be the boundary between their respec- 
tive provinces of Florida on the East, and Louisiana on the 
"West: but as I have been unable to find any such treaty, I 
am induced to doubt its existence. 

countries and lands which are situated in the northern part of America, 
between New France and New IMexico; and the Sieur de la Salle, to 
whom we committed that enterprise, having had success, enough to con- 
firm a belief that a communication might be settledyVom J^ew France to 
the Gulf of Mexico, by means of large rivers, this obliged us, imme- 
diately after the peace of Ryswic, to give orders for establishing a colony 
there, and maintaining a garrison, which his kept and preserved the pos- 
session we had taken in the very year 1683, of the lands, coasts, and islands 
which are situated in the Gulf of Mexico between Carolina on the east, 
and old and new Mexico on the west. But a new war having broke 
out in Europe shortly after, there was no possibility, till now, of reaping 
from that colony the advantages that might have been expected from 
thence, &c. And, whereas, upon the information we have received con- 
cerning the disposition and situation of the said countries, known at pre- 
sent by the name of the Province of Louisiana, we are of opinion, that 
there may be established therein considerable commerce, &c. we have 
resolved to grant the commerce of the country of Louisiana to the Sieur 
Anthony Crozat, &c. For these reasons, &c. we, by these presents, 
signed by our hand, have appointed and do appoint the said Sieur Cro- 
zat, to carry on a trade in all the lands possessed by us, and bounded by 
New Mexico and by the lands of the English of Carolina, all the estab- 
lishments, ports, havens, rivers, and principally the port and haven of 
the Isle Dauphine, heretofore called Massacre; the river of St. Louis, 
heretofore called Mississippi, from the edge of the sea as far as the Illi- 
nois, together with the river St Philip, heretofore called the Missouri, 
and of St. Jerome, heretofore called Ooabache, with all the countries, 
territories, and lakes within land, and the rivers which fall directly or 
indirectly into that part of the river St. Louis. 

The Articles — 1. Our pleasure is, that all the aforesaid lands, coun- 
tries, streams, rivers, and islands be, and remain comprised under the 
name tf the government of Louisiana, which shall be dependent upon the 
general government of New France, to which it is subordinate; and fur- 
ther, that all the lands which we possess from the Illinois, be united, &c. 
to the general government of New^ France, and become part there- 
of, &c." 



ON THE LINE OF THE PERDIDO. 9 

About the same period; to wit, towards the close of the 
seventeenth century, when France settled the Isle Dauphine, 
and the Mobile, Spain erected a fort at Pensacola. But 
Spain never pushed her actual settlements, or conquests, 
farther west than the bay of Pensacola, whilst those of the 
French were bounded on the east by the Mobile. Between 
those two points, a space ot about thirteen or fourteen 
leagues, neither nation had the exclusive possession. The 
Rio Perdido, forming the bay of the same name, discharges 
itself into the gulf of Mexico, between the Mobile and 
Pensacola, and, being a natural and the most notorious ob- 
ject between them, presented itself as a suitable boundary 
between the possessions of the two nations. It accordingly, 
appears very early to have been adopted as the boundary 
by tacit, if not expressed, consent. The ancient charts and 
historians, therefore, of the country, so represent it. Du- 
pratz, one of the most accurate historians of the time, in 
point of fact and detail, whose work was published as early 
as 1758, describes the coast as being bounded on the east 
by the Rio Perdido. In truth, sir, no European nation 
whatever, except France, ever occupied any portioti of west 
Florida, prior to her cession of it to England in 1762. The 
gentlemen on the other side do not, indeed, strongly con- 
trovert, if they do not expressly admit, that Louisiana, as 
held by the French anterior to her cessions of it in 1762, 
extended to the Perdido. The only observation made by 
the gentleman from Delaware to the contrary, to wit, that 
the island of New Orleans being particularly mentioned, 
could not, for that reason, constitute a part of Louisiana; is 
susceptible of a very satisfactory answer. That island was 
excepted out of the grant to England, and was the only part 
of the province east of the river that was so excepted. It 
formed in itself one of the most prominent and important 
objects of the cession to Spain originally, and was transfer- 
red to her with the portion of the province west of the Mis^ 
sissippi. It might with equal propriety, be urged that St. 
Augustine is not in East Florida, because St. Augustine is 
expressly mentioned by Spain in her cession of that province 
to England: From this view of the subject, I think it re- 
sults that the province of Louisiana comprised West Flori- 
da previous to the year, 176^. 

What was done with it at this epoch? By a secret con- 
vention of the 3d of November, of that year, France ceded 
C 



10 ON THE LINE OF THE PERDIDO. 

the country lying west of the Mississippi, and the island of 
New Orleans, to Spain; and by a contemporaneous act, the 
articles preliminary to the definitive treaty of 1763, she 
transferred West Florida to England. Thus at the same 
instant of time, she alienated the whole province. Posterior 
to this grant, Great Britain having also acquired from Spain 
her possessions east of the Mississippi, erected the country 
into two provinces. East and West Florida. In this state 
of things it continued until the peace of 1783,. when Great 
Britain, in consequence of the events of the war, surren- 
dered the country to Spain, who for the first time came in- 
to actual possession of West Florida. Well, sir, how does 
she dispose of it? She re- annexes it to the residue of Louis- 
iana — extends the jurisdiction of that government to it, and 
subjects the governors, or commandants, of the districts of 
Baton Rouge, Feliciana, Mobile and Pensacola, to the au- 
thority of the governor of Louisiana, residing at New Or- 
leans; while the governor of East Florida is placed wholly 
without his control, and is made amenable directly to the 
governor of the Havannah. Indeed, sir, I have been credi- 
bly informed that all the concessions, or grants of land, made 
in West Florida, under the authority of Spain, run in the 
name of the governme7it of Louisiana. You cannot have 
forgotten that, about the period when we took possession of 
New Orleans, under the treaty of cession from France, the 
whole country resounded with the nefarious speculations 
which were alleged to be making in that city with the con- 
nivance, if not actual participation of the Spanish authori- 
ties, by the procurement of surreptitious grants of land, 
particularly in the district of Feliciana. West Florida, then, 
not only as France had held it, but as it was in the hands 
of Spain, made a part of the province of Louisiana; as much 
so as the jurisdiction, or district of Baton Rouge consti- 
tuted a part of West Florida. 

What then is the true construction of the treaties of St. 
Ildefonso, and of April, 1803, from whence our title is de- 
rived? If an ambiguity exist in a grant, the interpretation 
most favoural)le to the grantee is preferred. It was the duty 
of the grantor to have expressed himself in plain and in- 
telligible terms. This is the doctrine, not of Coke only, 
(whose dicta I admit have nothing to ilo with the question) 
but of the code of universal law. The doctrine is entitled 
to augmented force, when a clause only of the instrument 



ON THE LINE OF THE PERDIDO. n 

is exhibited, in which clause the ambiguity lurks, and the 
residue of the instrument is kept back by the grantor. The 
entire convention of 1762, by which France transferred 
Louisiana to Spain, is concealed, and the whole of the treaty 
of St. Ildefonso, except a solitary clause. We are thus de- 
prived of the aid which a full view of both of those instru- 
ments would afford. But we have no occasion to resort to 
any rules of construction, however reasonable in themselves, 
to establish our title. A competent knowledge of the facts, 
connected with the case, and a candid appeal to the treaties, 
are alone sufficient to manifest our right. The negociators 
of the treaty of 1803, having signed with the same ceremo- 
ny, two copies, one in English and the other in the French 
language, it has been contended that in the English version, 
the term " cede" has been erroneously used instead of " re- 
trocede," which is the expression in the French copy. And 
it is argued that we are bound by the phraseology of the 
French copy, because, it is declared that the treaty was 
agreed to in that language. It would not be very unfair to 
inquire if this is not like the common case in private life, 
where individuals enter into a contract of which each party 
retains a copy, duly executed. In such case, neither has 
the preference. We might as well say to France, we will 
cling by the English copy, as she could insist upon an ad- 
herence to the French copy; and if she urged ignorance on 
the part of Mr. Marbois, her negociator, of our language, 
we might with equal propriety plead ignorance on the part 
of our negociators of her language. As this, however, is a 
disputable point, I do not avail myself of it; gentlemen shall 
have the full benefit of the expressions in the French copy. 
According to this, then, in reciting the treaty of St. Ilde- 
fonso, it is declared by Spain in 1800, that she retrocedes 
to France, the colony, or province of Loiiisiana, with the 
same extent which it then had in the hands of Spain, and 
which it had when France possessed it, and such as it 
should be after the treaties subsequently entered into be- 
tween Spain and other states. This latter member of the 
description has been sufficiently explained by my colleague. 
It is said that since France, in 1762, ceded to Spain only 
Louisiana west of the Mississippi, and the Island of New- 
Orleans, the retrocession comprehended no more — that the 
retrocession ex vi termini was coinmensurate with and limi- 
ted by the direct cession from France to Spain. If this 



12 ON THE LINE OF THE PERDIDO. 

were true, then the description, such as Spain held it, that 
is in 1800, comprising West Florida, and such as France 
possessed it, that is in 1 762, prior to the several cessions, 
comprising also West Florida, would be totally inoperative. 
But the definition of the term retrocession, contended for by 
the other side is denied. It does not exclude the instru- 
mentality of a third party. It means restoration, or re-con- 
veyance of a thing originally ceded, and so the gentleman 
from Delaware acknowledged. I admit that the thing 
restored must have come to the restoring party from the 
party to whom it is retroceded; whether directly or indi- 
rectly is wholly immaterial. In its passage it may have 
come through a dozen hands. The retroceding party must 
claim under and in virtue of the right originally possessed 
by the party to whom the retrocession takes place. Allow 
'me to put a case: You own an estate called Louisiana. You 
convey one moiety of it to the gentleman from Delaware, 
and the other to me; he conveys his moiety to me, and I 
thus become entitled to the whole. By a suitable instrument 
I re-convey, or retrocede the estate called Louisiana to 
you as I now hold it, and as you held it; what passes to 
you? The whole estate or my moiety only? Let me in- 
dulge another supposition — that the gentleman from Dela- 
ware, after he received from you his moiety, bestowed a 
new denomination upon it and called it West Florida- 
would that circumstance vary the operation of my act of 
retrocession to you? The case supposed is in truth the real 
one between the United States and Spain. France in 1762, 
transfers Louisiana, west of the Mississippi to Spain, and 
at the same time conveys the eastern portion of it, exclusive 
of New Orleans, to Great Britain. Twenty-one years after, 
that is in 1783, Great Britain cedes her part to Spain, who 
thus becomes possessed of the entire province; one portion 
by direct cession from France, and the residue by indirect 
cession. Spain then held the whole of Louisiana under 
France and in virtue of the title of France. The whole 
moved or passed from France to her. When therefore, in 
this state of things, she says, in the treaty of St. Ildefonso, 
that she retrocedes the province to France, can a doubt 
exist that she parts with, and gives back to France the en- 
tire colony? To preclude the possibility of such a doubt, 
she adds, that she restores it, not in a mutilated condition, 
but in that precise condition in which France had and she 
herself possessed it. 



ON THE LINE OP THE PERDIDO. 13 

Having thus shown, as I conceive, a clear right in the 
United States to West Florida, I proceed to inquire if the 
proclamation of the President directing the occupation of 
property, which is thus fairly acquired by solemn treaty, be 
an unauthorized measure of war and of legislation, as has 
been contended? 

The act of October, 1803, contains two sections, by one of 
which the President is authorized to occupy the territories 
ceded to us by France in the April preceding. The other 
empowers the President to establish a provisional govern- 
ment there. The first section is unlimited in its duration; 
the other is restricted to the expiration of the then session 
of Congress. The act therefore of March, 1804, declaring 
that the previous act of October should continue in force 
until the 1st of October, 1804, is applicable to the second 
and not the first section, and was intended to continue the 
provisional government of the President. By the act of 
24th February, 1804, for laying duties on goods imported 
into the ceded territories, the President is empowered when- 
ever he deems it expedient to erect the bay and river Mo- 
bile, &c. into a separate district, and to establish therein a 
port of entry and delivery. By this same act the Orleans 
territory is laid off, and its boundaries are so defined as to 
comprehend West Florida. By other acts the President is 
authorized to remove by force, under certain circumstances, 
persons settling on, or taking Dossession of lands ceded to 
the United States. 

These laws furnish a legislative construction of the treaty, 
corresponding with that given by the Executive, and they 
indisputably vest in this branch of the general government 
the power to take possession of the country, whenever it 
might be proper in his discretion. The President has not 
therefore violated the constitution and usurped the war- 
making power, but he would have violated that provision 
which requires him to see that the laws are faithfully exe- 
cuted, if he had longer forborn to act. It is urged that he 
has assumed powers belonging to congress in undertaking 
to annex the portion of West Florida, between the Missis- 
sippi and the Perdido, to the Orleans territory. But t^m 
gress, as has been shown, has already made this annexati^ 
the limits of the Orleans territory, as prescribed by con- 
gress, comprehending the country in question. The Presi- 
dent by his proclamation, has not made law, but has merely 



/O 



14 ON THE LINE OF THE PERDIDO. 

declared to the people of West Florida, what the law is. 
This is the office of a proclamation, and it was highly pro- 
per that the people of that territory should be thus notified. 
By the act of occupying the country, the government de 
JactOy whether of Spain, or the revolutionists ceased to ex- 
ist; and the laws of the Orleans territory, applicable to the 
country, by the operation and force of law attached to it. 
But this was a state of things which the people might not 
know, and which every dictate of justice and humanity 
therefore required, should be proclaimed. I consider the 
bill before us merely in the light of a declaratory law. 

Never could a more propitious moment present itself for 
the exercise of the discretionary power placed in the Presi- 
dent, and had he failed to embrace it, he would have been 
criminally inattentive to the dearest interests of this country. 
It cannot be too often repeated, that if Cuba on the one 
hand, and Florida on the other, are in the possession of a 
foreign maritime power, the immense extent of country be- 
longing to the United States, and watered by streams dis- 
charging themselves into the gulf of Mexico — that is one- 
third, nay, more than two-thirds of the United States, com- 
prehending Louisiana, are placed at the mercy of that 
power. The possession of Florida is a guarantee absolute- 
ly necessary to the enjoyment of the navigation of those 
streams. The gentleman from Delaware anticipates the 
most direful consequences from the occupation of the coun- 
try. He supposes a sally from a Spanish garrison upon the 
American forces, and asks what is to be done? We attempt 
a peaceful possession of the country to which we are fairly- 
entitled. If the wrongful occupants under the authority of 
Spain assail our troops, I trust they will retrieve the lost 
honour of the nation in the case of the Chesapeake. Sup- 
pose an attack upon any portion of the American army with- 
in the acknowledged limits of the United States by a Spanish 
force? In such event there would exist but a single honour- 
able and manly course. The genUeman conceives it unge- 
nerous, that we should at this moment, when Spain is en- 
compassed and pressed on all sides by the immense power 
of her enemy, occupy West Florida. Shall we sit by pas- 
sive spectators, and witness the interesting transactions of 
that country — transactions which tend in the most imminent 
degree, to jeopardize our rights; without attempting to in- 
terfere? Are you prepared to see a foreign power seize 



ON THE LINE OF THE PERDIDO. 15 

what belongs to us? I have heard in the most credible manner 
that, about the period when the President took his measures 
in relation to that country, agents of a foreign power were 
intriguing with the people there, to induce them to come 
under his dominion: but whether this be the fact or not, it 
cannot be doubted, that if you neglect the present auspicious 
moment — if you reject the proffered boon, some other na- 
tion, profiting by your errors, will seize the occasion to get 
a fatal tooting in your southern frontier. I have no hesita- 
tion in saying, that if a parent country will not or cannot 
maintain its authority in a colony adjacent to us, and there 
exists in it a state of misrule and disorder, menacing our 
peace, and if morover such colony, by passing into the 
hands of any other power, would become dangerous to the 
integrity of the union, and manifestly tend to the subversion 
of our laws; we have a right upon the eternal principles of 
self-preservation, to lay hold upon it. This principle alone, 
independent of any title, would warrant our occupation of 
West Florida. But it is not necessary to resort to it, our 
title being in my judgment incontestibly good. We are told 
of the vengeance of resuscitated Spain. If Spain, under any 
modification of her government, choose to make war upon 
us, for the act under consideration, the nation, I have no 
doubt, will be willing to embark in such a contest. But the 
gentleman reminds us that Great Britain, the ally of Spain, 
may be obliged by her connexion with that country, to take 
part with her against us, and to consider this measure of the 
President as justifying an appeal to arms. Sir, is the time 
never to arrive when we may manage our own affairs with- 
out the fear of insulting His Brittanic Majesty? Is the rod 
of British power to be forever suspended over our heads? 
Does congress put on an embargo to shelter our rightful 
commerce against the piratical depredations committed up- 
on it on the ocean? We are immediately warned of the in- 
dignation of offended England. Is a law of non-intercourse 
proposed? The whole navy of the haughty mistress of the 
seas is made to thunder in our ears. Does the President 
refuse to continue a correspondence with a minister who 
violates the decorum belonging to his diplomatic character, 
by giving and deliberately repeating an affront to the whole 
nation? We are instantly menaced with the chastisement 
which English pride will not fail to inflict. Whether we 
assert our rights by sea or attempt their maintenance by 



It) ON THE LINE OF THE PERDIDO. 

land — whethersoever we turn ourselves, this phantom in» 
cessantly pursues us. Already has it had too much influence 
on the councils of the nation. It contributed to the repeal of 
the embargo — that dishonourable repeal which has so much 
tarnished the character of our government. Mr. President, 
I have before said on this floor, and now take occasion to 
remark, that I most sincerely desire peace and amity with 
England; that I even prefer an adjustment of all differences 
with her, before one with any other nation. But if she per- 
sists in a denial of justice to us, or if she avails herself of 
the occupation of West Florida to commence war upon us, 
I trust and hope that all hearts will unite in a bold and vi- 
gorous vindication of our rights. I do not believe, however, 
in the prediction, that war will be the effect of the measure 
in question. 

It is asked, why, some years ago, when the interruption 
of the right of deposit took place at New Orleans, the gov- 
ernment did not declare war against Spain, and how it has 
happened that there has been this long acquiescence in the 
Spanish possession of West Florida? The answer is obvious. 
It consists in the genius of the nation which is prone to 
peace, in that desire to arrange, by friendly negociation, our 
disputes, with all nations; which has constantly influenced 
the present and preceding administration; and in the jealousy 
of armies, with which we have been inspired by the melan- 
choly experience of free estates. But a new state of things 
has arisen: negociation has become hopeless. The power 
with whom it was to be conducted, if not annihilated, is in a 
situation that precludes it; and the subject matter of it is in 
danger of being snatched forever from our power. Longer 
delay would be construed into a dereliction of our right, and 
would amount to treachery to ourselves. May I ask, in my 
turn, why certain gentlemen, now so fearful of war, were so 
urgent for it with Spain when she withheld the right of de- 
posit? and still later, when in 1805 or 6 this very subject of 
the actual limits of Louisiana, was before congress? I will 
not say, because I do not know that I am authorised to say, 
that the motive is to be found in the change of relation 
between Spain and other European powers, since those pe- 
riods. 

Does the honourable gentleman from Delaware really be- 
lieve that he finds in St. Domingo a case parallel with that 
of West Florida? and that our government, having inter*- 



ON THE LINE OF THE PERDIDO- 17 

dieted an illicit commerce with the former, ought not to have 
interposed in relation to the latter? It is scarcely necessary 
to consume your time by remarking that we had no preten- 
sions to that island; that it did not menace our repose, nor 
did the safety of the United States require that they should 
occupy it. It became, therefore, our duty to attend to the 
just remonstrance of France against American citizens, sup= 
plying the rebels with the means of resisting her power. 

I am not, sir, in favour of cherishing the passion of con- 
quest. But I must be permitted, in conclusion, to indulge 
the hope of seeing, ere long, the nexv United States (if you 
will allow me the expression) embracing, not only the old 
thirteen States, but the entire country east of the Missis- 
sippi, including East Florida, and some of the territories of 
the north of us also. 



U 



18 



ON THE BANK CHARTER. 



Speech on the question of renewing the charter of the Bank 
of the United States^ delivered in the Senate^ 1811. 

Mr. President, /^^' f5 ^^^^ 

When the subject involved in the motion now under con- 
sideration was depending before the other branch of the 
legislature a disposition to acquiesce in their decision was 
evinced. P'or although the committee who reported this 
bill had been raised many weeks prior to the determina- 
tion of that house on the proposition to re-charter the bank, 
except the occasional reference to it of memorials and peti- 
tions, we scarcely ever heard of it. The rejection, it is 
true, of a measure brought before either branch of congress 
does not absolutely preclude the other from taking up the 
same proposition; but the economy of our time, and a just 
deference for the opinion of others, would seem to recom- 
mend a delicate and cautious exercise of this power. As 
this subject, at the memorable period when the charter was 
granted, called forth the best talents of the nation — as it 
has, on various occasions, undergone the most thorough 
investigation, and as we can hardly expect that it is suscep- 
tible of receiving any further elucidation, it was to be hoped 
that we should have been spared useless debate. This was 
the more desirable because there are, I conceive, much su- 
perior claims upon us for every hour of the small portion 
of the session yet remaining to us. Under the operation of 
these motives, I had resolved to give a silent vote, until I 
felt myself bound, by the defying manner of the arguments 
advanced in support of the renewal, to obey the paramount 
duties I owe my country and its constitution; to make one 
effort, however feeble, to avert the passage of what appears 
to me a most unjustifiable law. After my honourable friend 
from Virginia (Mr. Giles) had instructed and amused us 
with the very able and ingenious argument which he deliv- 
ered on yesterday I should have still forborne to trespass 
on the senate but for the extraordmary character of his 
speech. He discussed both sides of the question with great 
ability and eloquence and certainly demonstrated to the 
satisfaction of all who heard him both that it was constitu- 
tional and unconstitutional, highly proper and improper to 



ON THE BANK CHARTER. 19 

prolong the charter of the bank. The honourable gentle- 
man appeared to me in the predicament in which the cele- 
brated orator of Virginia, Patrick Henry, is said to have 
been once placed. Engaged in a most extensive and lucra- 
tive practice of the law, he mistook in one instance the side 
of the cause in which he was retained, and addressed the 
court and jury in a very masterly and convincing speech in 
behalf of his antagonist. His distracted client came up to 
him whilst he was thus employed, and interrupting him, 
bitterly exclaimed, " you have undone me! You have ruin- 
ed me!" — " Never mind, give yourself no concern," said 
the adroit advocate; and turning to the court and jury, con- 
tinued his argument by observing, " may it please your hon- 
ors, and you, gentlemen of the jury, I have been stating to 
you what I presume my adversary may urge on his side. I 
will now show you how fallacious his reasoning and ground- 
less his pretensions are." The skilful orator proceeded, 
satisfactorily refuted every argument he had advanced, and 
gained his cause! A success with which I trust the exertion 
of my honourable friend will on this occasion be crowned. 
It has been said by the honourable gentleman from Geor- 
gia (Mr. Crawford) that this has been made a party ques- 
tion although the law incorporating the bank was passed 
prior to the formation of parties and when congress was 
not biassed by party prejudices. (Mr. Crawford explained. 
He did not mean that it had been made a party question in 
the senate. His allusion was elsewhere.) I do not think it 
altogether fair to refer to the discussions in the house of 
representatives, as gentlemen belonging to that body have 
no opportunity of defending themselves here. It is true that 
this law was not the effect, but it is no less true that it was 
one of the causes of the political divisions in this country. 
And, if, during the agitation of the present question, the 
renewal has, on one side, been opposed on party principles, 
let me ask if, on the other, it has not been advocated on 
similar principles? Where is the Macedonian phalanx, the 
opposition in congress? I believe, sir, I shall not incur the 
charge of presumptuous prophecy, when I predict we shall 
not pick up from its ranks one single straggler! And if, on 
this occasion, my worthy friend from Georgia has gone over 
into the camp of the enemy, is it kind in him to look back 
upon his former friends, and rebuke them for the fidelity 
with which they adhere to their old principles? 



20 OK THE BANK CHARTER. 

I shall not stop to examine how far a representative is 
bound by the instructions of his constituents. That is a 
question between the giver and receiver of the instructions. 
But I must be permitted to express my surprise at the point- 
ed difference which has been made between the opinions and 
instructions of state legislatures, and the opinions and de- 
tails of the deputations with which we have been surround- 
ed from Philadelphia. Whilst the resolutions of those le- 
gislatures-- known, legitimate, constitutional and deliberative 
bodies — have been thrown into the back ground, and their 
interference regarded as officious, these delegations from 
self-created societies, composed of nobody knows whom, 
have been received by the committee with the utmost com- 
plaisance. Their communications have been treasured up 
with the greatest diligence. Never did the Delphic priests 
collect with more holy care the frantic expressions of the 
agitated Pythia, or expound them with more solemnity to 
the astonished Grecians, than has the committee gathered 
the opinions and testimonies of these deputies, and, through 
the gentleman from Massachusetts, pompously detailed them 
to the senate! Philadelphia has her immediate representa- 
tives, capable of expressing her wishes upon the floor of the 
other house. If it be improper for states to obtrude upon 
congress their sentiments, it is much more highly so for the 
unauthorized deputies of fortuitous congregations. 

The first singular feature that attracts attention in this 
bill is the new and unconstitutional veto which it establish- 
es. The constitution has required only, that after bills 
have passed the house of representatives and the senate, 
they shall be presented to the president for his approval or 
rejection, and his determination is to be made known in ten 
days. But this bill provides, that when all the constitutional 
sanctions are obtained, and when according to the usual 
routine of legislation it ought to be considered as a law, it 
is to be submitted to a new branch of the legislature, con- 
sisting of the president and twenty-four directors of the 
bank of the United States, holding their sessions in Phila- 
delphia, and if they please to approve it, why then is it to 
become a law! And three months (the term allowed by our 
law of May last, to one of the great belligerents for revok- 
ing his edicts, after the other shall have repealed hisj are 
granted them to decide whether an act of congress shall be 
the law of the land or not! An act which is said to be in- 



ON THE BANK CHARTER. 21 

dispensibly necessary to our salvation, and without the pas- 
sage, of which universal distress and bankruptcy are to per- 
vade the country. Remember, sir, that the honourable gen- 
tleman from Georgia has contended that this charter is no 
contract. Does it then become the representatives of the 
nation to leave the nation at the mercy of a corporation? 
Ought the impending calamities to be left to the hazard of 
a contingent remedy? 

This vagrant power to erect a bank, after having wander- 
ed throughout the whole constitution in quest of some con- 
genial spot to fasten upon, has been at length located by the 
gentleman from Georgia on that provision which authorizes 
congress to lay and collect taxes, &c. In 1791, the power 
is referred to one part of the instrument; in 1811, to another. 
Sometimes it is alleged to be deducible from the power to 
regulate commerce. Hard pressed here it disappears, and 
shows itself under the grant to coin money. The sagacious 
secretary of the treasury in 1791 pursued the wisest course 
— he has taken shelter behind general high sounding and 
imposing terms. He has declared, in the preamble to the 
act establishing the bank that it will be very conducive to 
the successful conducting^ of the national finances; will tend 
to give facility to the obtaining of loans, and will be pro- 
ductive of considerable advantage to trade and industry in 
general. No allusion is made to the collection of taxes. 
What is the nature of this government? It is emphatically 
federal, vested with an aggregate of specified powers for 
general purposes, conceded by existing sovereignties, who 
have themselves retained what is not so conceded. It is said 
that there are cases in which it must act on implied powers. 
This is not controverted, but the implication must be ne- 
cessary, and obviously flow from the enumerated power 
with which it is allied. The power to charter companies is 
not specified in the grant, and I contend is of a nature not 
transferrable by mere implication. It is one of the most 
exalted attributes of sovereignty. In the exercise of this 
gigantic power we have seen an East India company crea- 
ted, which has carried dismay, desolation and death, through- 
out one of the largest portions of the habitable world. A 
company which is in itself, a sovereignty — which has sub- 
verted empires and set up new dynasties — and has not only 
made war, but war against its legitimate sovereign! Under 
the influence of this power, we have seen arise a South Sea 



22 ON THE BANK CHARTER. 

company and a Mississippi company, that distracted and 
convulsed all Europe, and menaced a total overthrow of all 
credit and confidence, and universal bankruptcy. Is it to be 
imagined that a power so vast would have been left by the 
wisdom of the constitution to doubtful inference? It has 
been alleged that there are many instances, in the constitu- 
tion, where powers in their nature incidental, and which 
would have necessarily been vested along with the princi- 
pal, are nevertheless expressly enumerated; and the power 
"to make rules and regulations for the government of the 
land and naval forces," which it is said is incidental to the 
power to raise armies and provide a navy, is given as an ex- 
ample. What does this prove? How extremely cautious 
the convention were to leave as little as possible to impli- 
cation. In all cases where incidental powers are acted upon, 
the principal and incidental ought to be congenial with each 
other, and partake of a common nature. The incidental 
power ought to be strictly subordinate and limited to the 
end proposed to be attained by the specified power. In other 
words, under the name of accomplishing one object which 
is specified, the power implied ought not to be made to em- 
brace other objects, which are not specified in the constitu- 
tion. If then you could establish a bank to collect and dis- 
tribute the revenue, it ought to be expressly restricted to 
the purpose of such collection and distribution. It is mock- 
ery, worse than usurpation, to establish it for a lawful object, 
and then to extend it to other objects which are not lawful- 
In deducing the power to create corporations, such as I 
have described it, from the power to collect taxes, the rela- 
tion and condition of principal and incident are prostrated 
and destroyed. The accessory is exalted above the princi- 
pal. As well might it be said that the great luminary of 
day is an accessory, a satellite to the humblest star that 
twinkles forth its feeble light in the firmament of Heaven! 
Suppose the constitution had been silent as to an individu- 
al department of this government, could you under the 
power to lay and collect taxes establish a judiciary? I pre- 
sume not; but if you could derive the power by mere im- 
plication could you vest it with any other authority than to 
enforce the collection of the revenue? A bank is made for 
the ostensible purpose of aiding in the collection of the rev- 
enue, and whilst it is engaged in this, the most inferior and 
subordinate of all its functions, it is made to diffuse itself 



ON THE BANK CHARTER. 23 

throughout society, and to influence all the great operations 
of credit, circulation and commerce. Like the Virginia jus- 
tice, you tell the man, whose turkey had been stolen, that 
your books of precedents furnish no form for his case, but 
then you will grant him a precept to search for a cow, and 
when looking for that he may possibly find his turkey! You 
say to this corporation, we cannot authorize you to discount 
— to emit paper — to regulate commerce, &c. No! Our book 
has no precedents of that kind. But then we can authorize 
you to collect the revenue, and, whilst occupied with that 
you may do whatever else you please! 

What is a corporation such as the bill contemplates? It is 
a splendid association of favored individuals, taken from the 
mass of society, and invested with exemptions and surround- 
ed by immunities and privileges. The honorable gentle- 
man from Massachusetts (Mr. Lloyd) has said that the 
original law, establishing the bank, was justly liable to the 
objection of vesting in that institution an exclusive privi- 
lege, the faith of the government being pledged that no 
other bank should be authorized during its existence. This 
objection he supposes is obviated by the bill under conside- 
ration; but all corporations enjoy exclusive privileges — that 
is, the corporators have privileges which no others possess; 
if you create fifty corporations instead of one, you have 
only fifty privileged bodies instead of one. I contend that 
the states have the exclusive power to regulate contracts, to 
declare the capacities and incapacities to contract, and to 
provide as to the extent of responsibility of debtors to their 
creditors. If congress have the power to erect an artificial 
body and say it shall be endowed with the attributes of an 
individual — if you can bestow on this object of your own 
creation the ability to contract, may you not, in contraven- 
tion of state rights, confer upon slaves, infants and femes 
covert the ability to contract? And if you have the power 
to say that an association of individuals shall be responsi- 
ble for their debts only in a certain limited degree, what is 
to prevent an extension of a similar exemption to individu- 
als? Where is the limitation upon this power to set up cor- 
porations. You establish one in the heart of a state, the ba- 
sis of whose capital is money. You may erect others whose 
capital shall consist of land, slaves and personal estates, and 
thus the whole property within the jurisdiction of a state 
might be absorbed by these political bodies. The existing 



24 Oi\ THE BANK CHARTER. 

bank contends that it is beyond the power of a state to tax 
it, and if this pretension be well founded, it is in the pow- 
er of congress, by chartering companies to dry up ail the 
sources of state revenue. Georgia has undertaken, it is true, 
to levy a tax on the branch within her jurisdiction, but this 
law, now under a course of litigation, is considered as in- 
valid. The United States own a great deal of land in the 
state of Ohio; can this government, for the purpose of cre- 
ating an ability to purchase it, charter a company? Aliens 
are forbidden, I believe, in that state, to hold real estate — 
could you, in order to multiply purchasers, confer upon 
them the capacity to hold land, in derogation of the local 
law? I imagine this will hardly be insisted upon; and )et 
there exists a more obvious connexion between the undoubt- 
ed power, which is possessed by this government, to sell its 
land, and the means of executing that power by increasing 
the demand in the market, than there is between this bank 
and the collection of a tax. This government has the power 
to levy taxes — to raise armies — provide a navy — make war 
— regulate commerce, coin money, &c. &c. It would not 
be difficult to show as intimate a connexion letween a cor- 
poration, established for any purpose whatever, and some 
one or other of those great powers, as there is between the 
revenue and the bank of the United States. 

Let us inquire into the actual participation of this bank 
in the collection of the revenue. Prior to the passage of 
the act of 1800, requiring the collectors of those ports of 
entry at which the principal bank, or any of its offices are 
situated, to deposit with them the custom-house bonds, it 
had not the smallest agency in the collection of the duties. 
During almost one moiety of the period to which the exis- 
tence of this institution was limited, it was nowise instru- 
mental in the collection of that revenue, to which it is now 
become indispensable! The collection previous to 1800, was 
made entirely by the collectors; and even at present, where 
there is one port of entry, at which this bank is employed, 
there are eight or ten at which the collection is made as it 
was before 1800. And sir, what does this bank or its branch- 
es where resort is had to it? It does not adjust with the mer- 
chant the amount of duty, nor take his bond, nor, if the 
bond is not paid, coerce the payment by distress or other- 
wise. In fact it has no active agency whatever in the 
collection. Its operation is merely passive; that is, if the 



^/'l^ 



ON THE BANK CHARTER. 25 

obligor, after his bond is placed in the bank, discharges it, 
all is very well. Such is the mighty aid afforded by this 
tax-gatherer, without which the government cannot get 
along! Again, it is not pretended that the very limited as- 
sistance which this institution does in truth render, extends 
to any other than a single species of tax, that is, duties. In 
the collection of the excise, the direct and other internal 
taxes, no aid was derived from any bank. It is true, in the 
collection of those taxes, the former did not obtain the same 
indulgence which the merchant receives in paying duties. 
But what obliges congress to give credit at all? Could it not 
demand prompt payment of the duties? And, in fact, does 
it not so demand in many instances? Whether credit is given 
or not is a matter merely of discretion. If it be a facility 
to mercantile operations, (as I presume it is) it ought to be 
granted. But I deny the right to engraft upon it a bank, 
which you would not otherwise have the power to erect. 
You cannot create the necessity of a bank, and then plead 
that necessity for its establishment. In the administration 
of the finances, the bank acts simply as a payer and receiv- 
er. The secretary of the treasury has money in New York, 
and wants it in Charlestonj the bank will furnish him with 
a check, or bill, to make the remittance, which any merchant 
would do just as well. 

I v/ill now proceed to show by fact, actual experience, 
not theoretic reasoning, but by the records themselves of 
the treasury, that the operations of that department may 
be as well conducted without as with this bank. The delu- 
sion has consisted in the use of certain high sounding phra- 
ses, dexterously used on the occasion — " the collection of 
the revenue" — " the administration of the finance" — " the 
conducting of the fiscal affairs of the government," the usual 
language of the advocates of the bank, extort express as- 
sent, or awe into acquiescence, without inquiry or examina- 
tion into its necessity. About the commencement, of this 
year there appears, by the report of the secretary of the 
treasury, of the 7th of January, to have been a little up- 
wards of two millions and four hundred thousand dollars 
in the treasury of the United Statesj and more than one- 
third of this whole sum was in the vaults of local banks. In 
several instances where opportunities existed of selecting the 
bank, a preference has been given to the state bank, or at 
least a portion of the deposits has been made with it. In 
E 



26 ON THE BANK CHARTER. 

New York, for example, there was deposited with the Man- 
hattan bank Si 88,670, although a branch bank is in that 
city. In this district, §115,080 were deposited with the 
bank of Columbia, although here also is a branch bank, and 
yet the slate banks are utterly unsafe to be trusted! If the 
money, after the bonds are collected is thus placed with these 
banks, I presume there can be no difficulty, in placing the 
bonds themselves there, if they must be deposited with 
some bank for collection, which I deny. 

Again, one of the most important and complicated branch- 
es of the treasury department, is the management of our 
landed system. The sales have in some years, amounted to 
upwards of half a million of dollars, are generally made 
upon credit, and yet no bank whatever is made use of to 
facilitate the collection. After it is made, the amount in 
some instances, has been deposited with banks, and, accord- 
ing to the secretary's report which I have before adverted 
to, the amount so deposited, was in January, upwards of 
three hundred thousand dollars, not one cent of which was 
in the vaults of the bank of the United States, or in any of 
its branches, but in the bank of Pennsylvania, its branch at 
Pittsburgh, the Marietta bank, and the Kentucky bank. Upon 
the point of responsibility, I cannot subscribe to the opinion 
of the secretary of the treasury, if it is meant that the abili- 
ty to pay the amount of any deposits which the government 
may make, under any exigency, is greater than that of the 
state banks; that the accountability of a ramified institution, 
whose affairs are managed by a single head, responsible for 
all its members, is more simple than that of a number of 
independent and unconnected establishments, I shall not de- 
ny; but, with regard to safety, I am strongly inclined to 
think it is on the side of the local banks. The corruption or 
misconduct of the parent, or any of its branches, may bank- 
rupt or destroy the whole system, and the loss of the gov- 
ernment in that event, will be of the deposits made with 
each; whereas, in the failure of one state bank the loss will 
be confined to the deposit in the vault of that bank. It is 
said to have been a part of Burr's plan to seize on the branch 
bank at New Orleans. At that period large sums, imported 
from La Vera Cruz, are alledged to have been deposited 
■with it, and if the traitor had accomplished the design, the 
bank of the United States, if not actually bankrupt, might 
have been constrained to stop payment. 



Or^ THE BANK CHARTER. ST* 

It is urged by the gentleman from Massachusetts, (Mr. 
Lloyd,) that as this nation advances in commerce, wealth, 
and population, new energies will be unfolded, new wants 
and exigences will arise, and hence he infers that powers 
must be implied from the constitution. But, sir, the ques- 
tion is, shall we stretch the instrument to embrace cases not 
fairly within its scope, or shall we resort to that remedy, 
by amendment, which the constitution prescribes? 

Gentlemen contend that the construction which they give 
to the constitution has been acquiesced in by all parties and 
under all administrations; and they rely particularly on an 
act which passed in 1804, for extending a branch to New 
Orleans; and another act of 1807, for punishing those who 
should forge or utter forged paper of the bank. With re- 
gard to the first law, passed no doubt upon the recommen- 
dation of the treasury department, I would remark, that it 
was the extension of a branch to a territory over which con- C 
gress possesses the power of legislation almost uncontrolled, / 
and where, without any constitutional impediment, charters i 
of incorporation may be granted. As to the other act, it^ 
was passed no less for the benefit of the community than / 
the bank — to protect the ignorant and unwary from counter- 
feit paper, purporting to have been emitted by the bank. 
When gentlemen are claiming the advantage supposed to 
be deducible from acquiescence, let me inquire what they 
would have had those to do, who believed the establishment 
of a bank an encroachment upon state rights? Were they 
to have resisted, and how? By force? Upon the change of 
parties in 1800, it must be well recollected that the greatest 
calamities were predicted as a consequence of that event. In- 
tentions were ascribed to the new occupants of power, of 
violating the public faith, and prostrating national credit. 
Under such circumstances that they should act with great 
circumspection, was quite natural. They saw in full opera- 
tion a bank, chartered by a congress who had as much right 
to judge of their constitutional powers as their successors. 
Had they revoked the lavv^ which gave it existence, the in- 
stitution would, in all probability, continued to transact 
business notwithstanding. The judiciary would have been 
appealed to, and from the known opinions and predilections 
of the judges then composing it, they would have pronounc- 
ed the act oi incorporation, as in the nature of a contract, 
beyond the repealing power of any succeeding legislature. 



28 ON THE BANK CHARTER, 

And, sir, what a scene of confusion would such a state of 
things have presented — an act of congress, which was law 
in the statute book, and a nullity on the judicial records! 
was it not the wisest to wait the natural dissolution of the 
corporation rather than accelerate that event by a repealing 
law involving so many delicate considerations? 

When gentlemen attempt to carry this measure upon the 
ground of acquiescence or precedent, do they forget that 
we are not in Westminster Hall? In courts of justice, the 
utility of uniform decision exacts of the judge a conformi- 
ty to the adjudication of his predecessor. In the interpre- 
tation and administration of the law this practice is wise 
and proper, and without it, every thing depending upon 
the caprice of the judge, we should have no security for 
our dearest rights. It is far otherwise when applied to the 
source of legislation. Here no rule exists but the constitu- 
tion, and to legislate upon the ground merely that our pre- 
decessors thought themselves authorized, under similar cir- 
cumstances to legislate, is to sanctify error and perpetuate 
ilsurpation. But if we are to be subjected to the trammels 
of precedent, I claim on the other hand, the benefit of the 
restrictions under which the intelligent judge cautiously re- 
ceives them. It is an established rule that to give to a pre- 
vious adjudication any effect, the mind of the judge who 
pronounced it must have been awakened to the subject, and 
it must have been a deliberate opinion formed after full ar- 
gument. In technical language, it must not have been sub 
silentio. Now the acts of 1804 and 1807, relied upon as 
pledges for the rechartering this company, passed not only 
without any discussions whatever of the constitutional pow- 
er of congress to establish a bank, but, I venture to say, 
without a single member having had his attention drawn to 
this question. I had the honor of a seat in the senate when 
the latter law passed, probably voted for it, and I declare 
with the utmost sincerity that I never once thought of that 
point, and I appeal confidently to every honorable member 
who was then present, to say if that was not his situation. 

This doctrine of precedents, applied to the legislature, 
appears to me to be fraught with the most mischievous con- 
sequences. The great advantage of our system of govern- 
ment over all others, is, that we have a zvritten constitution 
defining its limits, and prescribing its authorities; and that, 
liOwever, for a time, faction may convulse the nation, and 



ON THE BANK CHARTER. . 29 

passion and party prejudice sway its functionaries, the sea- 
son of reflection will recur, when calmly retracing their 
deeds, all aberrations from fundamental principle will be cor- 
rected. But once substitute practice for principle — the ex- 
position of the constitution for the text of the constitution, 
and in vain shall we look for the instrument in the instru- 
ment itself! It will be as diffused and intangible as the pre- 
tended constitution of England: — and must be sought for 
in the statute book, in the fugitive journals of congress, and 
in reports of the secretary of the treasury! What would be 
our condition if we were to take the interpretations given to 
that sacred book, which is, or ought to be, the criterion of 
our faith, for the book itself? We should find the Holy Bi- 
ble buried beneath the interpretations, glosses, and com- 
ments of councils, synods, and learned divines, which have 
produced swarms of intolerant and furious sects, partaking 
less of the mildness and meekness of their origin, than of 
a vindictive spirit of hostility towards each other! They 
ought to afford us a solemn warning to make that constitu- 
tion which we have sworn to support, our invariable guide. 

I conceive then, sir, that we were not empowered by the 
constitution, nor bound by any practice under it, to renew 
the charter of this bank, and I might here rest the argu- 
ment. But as there are strong objections to the renewal 
on the score of expediency, and as the distresses which will 
attend the dissolution of the bank, have been greatly exag- 
gerated, I will ask for your indulgence for a few moments 
longer. That some temporary inconvenience will arise, I 
shall not deny; but most groundlessly have the recent fail- 
ures in New York been attributed to the discontinuance of 
this bank. As well might you ascribe to that cause the 
failures of Amsterdam and Hamburg, of London and Liv- 
erpool. The embarrassments of commerce — the sequestra- 
tions in France — the Danish captures — in fine, the bellige- 
rent edicts are the obvious sources of these failures. Their 
immediate cause is the return of bills upon London, drawn 
upon the faith of unproductive or unprofitable shipments. 
Yes, sir, the protests of the notaries of London, not those 
of New York, have occasioned these bankruptcies. 

The power of a nation is said to consist in the sword and 
the purse. Perhaps at last all power is resolvable into that 
of the parse, for with it you may command almost every 
thing else. The specie circulation of the LTnited States is 



30 ON THE BANK CHARTER, 

estimated by some calculators at ten millions of dollars, and 
if it be no more, one moiety is in the vaults of this bank. 
May not the time arrive when the concentration of such a 
vast portion of the circulating medium of the country in 
the hands of any corporation, will be dangerous to our lib- 
erties? By whom is this immense power wieldedf By a bo- 
dy, who, in derogation of the great principle of all our in- 
stitutions, responsibility to the people, is amenable only to 
a few stockholders, and they chiefly foreigners. Suppose an 
attempt to subvert this government — would not the traitor 
first aim by force or corruption to acquire the treasure of 
this company? Look at it in another aspect. Seven-tenths 
of its capital are in the hands of foreigners, and these for- 
eigners chiefly English subjects. We are possibly on the 
eve of a rupture with that nation. Should such an event 
occur, do you apprehend that the English premier would 
experience any difficulty in obtaining the entire control of 
this institution? Republics, above all other governments, 
ought most seriously to guard against foreign influence. All 
history proves that the internal dissentions excited by for- 
eign intrigue, have produced the downfall of almost every 
free government that has hitherto existed; and yet, gentle- 
men contend that we are benefited by the possession of this 
foreign capital! If we could have its use, without its attend- 
ing abuse, I should be gratified also. But it is in vain to 
expect the one without the other. Wealth is power, and, 
under whatsoever form it exists, its proprietor, whether he 
lives on this or the other side of the Atlantic, will have a 
proportionate influence. It is argued, that our possession 
of this English capital gives us a great influence over the 
British government. If this reasoning be sound, we had bet- 
ter revoke the interdiction as to aliens holding land, and in- 
vite foreigners to engross the whole property, real and per- 
sonal, of the country. We had better at once exchange the 
condition of independent proprietors for that of stewards. 
We should then be able to govern foreign nations, accord- 
ing to the reasoning of the gentlemen on the other side. 
But let us put aside this theory and appeal to the decisions 
of experience. Go to the other side of the Atlantic and see 
what has been achieved for us there by Englishmen hold- 
ing seven-tenths of the capital of this bank. Has it released 
from galfing and ignominious bondage one solitary Ameri- 
can seaman bleeding under British oppression? Did it pre- 



ON THE BANK CHARTER. 31 

vent the unmanly attack upon the Chesapeake? Did it arrest 
the promulgation, or has it abrogated the orders in council 
"—those orders which have given birth to a new era in com- 
merce? In spite of all its boasted effect, are not the two na- 
tions brought to the very brink of war? Are we quite sure, 
that on this side of the water, it has had no effect favoura- 
ble to British interests. It has often been stated, and al- 
though I do not know that it is susceptible of strict proof, 
I believe it to be a fact^ that this bank exercised its influ- 
ence in support of Jay's treaty — and may it not have con- 
tributed to blunt the public sentiment, or paralise the efforts 
of this nation against British aggression. 

The duke of Northumberland is said to be the most con- 
siderable stockholder in the bank of the United States. A 
late lord chancellor of England, besides other noblemen, 
was a large stockholder. Suppose the prince of Essling, the 
duke of Cadore and other French dignitaries owned seven- 
eights of the capital of this bank, should we witness the 
same exertions (I allude not to any made in the senate^ to 
recharter it? So far from it, would not the danger of French 
influence be resounded throughout the nation? 

I shall therefore give my most hearty assent to th^ mo- 
tion for striking out the first section of the bill. , ^ 



32 



AUGMENTATION OF MILITARY FORCE. 

Speech on the bill for raising an additional Military Force, 
delivered in the House of Representatives^ in committee of 
the whole^ 3lst December, 1811. 

Mr. Clay (the speaker) said, that when the subject of this 
bill was before the house in the abstract form of a resolu- 
tion proposed by the committee of foreign relations, it was 
the pleasure of the House to discuss it whilst he was in the 
chair. He did not complain of this course of proceeding; for 
he did not at any time wish the house, from considerations 
personal to him, to depart from that mode of transacting the 
public business which they thought best. He merely adverted 
to the circumstance as an apology for the trouble he was 
about to give the committee. He was at all times disposed 
to take his share of responsibility, and under this impression 
he felt that he owed it to his constituents and to himself, be- 
fore the committee rose, to submit to their attention a few 
observations. 

He saw with regret a diversity of opinion amongst those 
who had the happiness generally to act together, in relation 
to the quantum of force proposed to be raised. For his part, 
he thought it was too great for peace, and he feared too 
small for war. He had been in favor of the number recom- 
mended by the Senate, and he would ask gentlemen, who 
had preferred 15,000, to take a candid and dispassionate 
view of the subject. It was admitted, on all hands, that it 
was a force to be raised for the purposes of war, and to be 
kept up and used only in the event of war. It was further 
conceded, that its principal destination would be the provin- 
ces of our enemy. By the bill which had been passed, to com- 
plete the peace establishment, we had authorized the collec- 
tion of a force of about 6000 men, exclusive of those now in 
service, which, with the 25,000 provided for bv this bill, 
will give an aggregate of new troops of 31,000 men. Expe- 
rience, in military affairs, has shown, that when any given 
number of men is authorized to be raised, you must, in 
counting upon the effective men which it will produce, de- 
duct one-fourth or one-third for desertion, sickness and other 
incidents to which raw troops are peculiarly exposed. 



AUGMENTATION OF MILITARY FORCE. 33 

In measures relating to war, it is wisest, if you err at all, 
to err on the side of the largest force, and you will conse- 
quently put do wn your 3 1 ,000 men at not more than an effective 
force in the field of about 21,000. This with the 4,000 now 
in service, will amount to 25,000 effective men. The secre- 
tary of war has stated, in his report, that for the single pur- 
pose of manning your forts and garrisons on the sea-board 
12,600 men are necessary. Although the whole of that 
number will not be taken from the 25,000, a portion of it, 
probably, will be. We are told that in Canada there are 
between 7 and 8000 regular troops. If it is invaded the 
whole of that force will be concentrated in Quebec, and 
would you attempt that almost impregnable fortress with 
less than double the force of the besieged. Gentlemen who 
calculate upon volunteers as a substitute for regulars, ought 
not to deceive themselves. No man appreciated higher than 
he did the spirit of the country. But, although volunteers 
were admirably adapted to the first operations of the war, to 
the making of a first impression, he doubted their fitness for a 
regular siege, or for the manning and garrisoning of forts. 
He understood it was a rule, in military affairs, never to leave 
in the rear a place of any strength undefended. Canada is 
invaded; the upper part falls, and you proceed to Quebec, 
It is true there would be no European army behind to be ap- 
prehended; but the people of the country might rise: and he 
warned gentlemen who imagined that the affections of the 
Canadians were with us against trusting too confidently on 
such a calculation, the basis of which was treason. He con- 
cluded, therefore, that a portion of the invading army would 
be distributed in the upper country, after its conquest, 
amongst the places susceptible of military strength and de- 
fence. The army, considerably reduced, sets itself down be- 
fore Quebec. Suppose it falls. Here again will be required 
a number of men to hold and defend it. And if the war be 
prosecuted still farther, and the lower country and Halifax 
be assailed, he conceived it obvious that the whole force of 
25,000 men would not be too great. 

The difference between those who were for 15,000, and 
those who were for 25,000 men, appeared to him to resolve 
itself into the question merely of a short or protracted war 
— a war of vigor — or a war of languor and imbecility. If a 
competent force be raised in the first instance, the war on 
the continent will be speedily terminated. He was aware 
F 



34 AUGMENTATION OF MILITARY FORCE. 

that it might still rage on the ocean. But where the nation 
could act with unquestionable success he was in favour of 
the display of an energy correspondent to the feelings and 
spirit of the country. Suppose one-third of the force he 
had mentioned (25,000 men,) could reduce the country, say 
in three years, and that the whole could accomplish the same 
object in one year; taking into view the greater hazard of 
the repulsion and defeat of the small force, and every other 
consideration, do not wisdom and true economy equally de- 
cide in favor of the larger force, and thus prevent failure in 
consequence of inadequate means? He begged gentlemen 
to recolU ct the immense extent of the United States; our vast 
maritime frontier, vulnerable in almost all its parts to pre- 
datory incursions, and he was persuaded they would see 
that a regular force of 25,000 men was not much too great 
during a period of war, if all designs of invading the provin- 
ces of the enemy were abandoned. 

Mr. C. proceeded next to examine the nature of the force 
contemplated by the bill. It was a regular army, enlisted 
for a limited time, raised for the sole purpose of war, and to 
be disbanded on the return of peace. Against this army all 
our republican jealousies and apprehensions are attempted to 
be excited. He was not the advocate of standing armies; 
but the standing armies which excite most his fears, are those 
which are kept up in time of peace. He confessed he did 
not perceive any real source of danger in a military force of 
25,000 men in the United States, provided only for a state 
of war, even supposing it to be corrupted and its arms turn- 
ed by the ambition of its leaders against the freedom of the 
country. He saw abundant security against the success of 
any such treasonable attempt. The diffusion of political 
information amongst the great body of the people constituted 
a powerful safeguard. The American character has been 
much abusedby Europeans, whose tourists, whether on horse 
or foot, in verse and prose have united in depreciating it. 
It is true that we do not exhibit as many signal instances of 
scientific acquirement in this country as are furnished in the 
world; but he believed it undeniable that the great mass 

the people possessed more intelligence than any other 
people on the globe. Such a people consisting of upwards 
of seven millions, affording a physical power of about a mil- 
lion of men, capable of bearing arms, and ardently devoted 
to liberty, could not be subdued by an army of 25,000 men. 



AUGMENTATION OP MILITARY FORCE. 35 

The wide extent of country over which we are spread was 
another security. In other countries, France and England 
for example, the fall of Paris or London is the fall ol the 
nation. Her e are no such dangerous aggregations of people. 
New York, and Philadelphia, and Boston, and every city on 
the Atlantic, might be subdued by an usurper, and he would 
have made but a small advance in the accomplishment of his 
purpose. He would add a still more improbable supposition, 
that the country east of the Allegany was to submit to the 
ambition of some daring chief, and, he insisted, that the lib- 
erty of the Union would be still unconquered. It would 
find successful support from the west. We are not only in 
the situation just described, but a great portion of the mili- 
tia — nearly the whole, he understood, ofthatot Massachusetts 
— have arms in their hands; and he trusted in God that that 
great object would be persevered in until every man in the 
nation could proudly shoulder the musket which was to de- 
fend his country and himself. A people having, besides the 
benefit of one general government, other local governments 
in full operation, capable of exerting and commanding great 
portions of the physical power, all of which must be pros- 
trated before our constitution is subverted. Such a people 
have nothing to fear from a petty contemptible force of 25, 
000 regulars. 

Mr. C. proceeded more particularly to inquire into the ob- 
ject of the force. That object, he understood distinctly to 
be war, and war with Great Britain. It had been supposed 
by some gentlemen improper to discuss publicly so delicate 
a question. He did not feel the impropriety. It was a sub- 
ject in its nature incapable of concealment. Even in coun- 
tries where the powers of government were conducted by a 
single ruler, it was almost impossible for that ruler to conceal 
his intentions when he meditates war. The assembling of 
armies — the strengthening of posts — all the movements pre- 
paratory to war, and which it is impossible to disguise, un- 
folded the intentions of the sovereign. Does Russia or Francq 
intend war, the intention is almost invariably known be- 
fore the war is commenced. If congress were to pass a 
law, with closed doors, for raising an army for the purpose 
of war, its enlistment and organization, which could not be 
done in secret, would indicate the use to which it was to be 
applied; and we cannot suppose England would be so blind 
as not to see that she was aimed at. Nor could she, did 



36 AUGMENTATION OF MILITARY FORCE- 

he apprehend, injure us more by thus knowing our purposes 
than if she were kept in ignorance of them. She may, indeed, 
anticipate us, and commence the war. But that is what she 
is in fact doing, and she can add but little to the injury 
which she is inflicting. If she choose to declare war in form, 
let her do so, the responsibility will be with her. 

What are we to gain by the war, has been emphatically 
asked In reply, he would ask, what are we not to lose by peace? 
Commerce, character, a nation's best treasure, honor! If pe- 
cuniary considerations alone are to govern, there is sufficient 
motive for the war. Our revenue is reduced by the opera- 
tion of the belligerent edicts to about six millions of dollars, 
according to the secretary of the treasury's report. The 
year preceding the embargo it was sixteen. Take away 
the orders in council, it will again mount up to sixteen mil- 
lions. By continuing therefore in peace, (if the mongrel state 
in which we are deserve that denomination,) we lose annu- 
ally in revenue alone, ten millions of dollars. Gentlemen will 
say, repeal the law of non-importation. He contended that 
if the United States were capable of that perfidy, the re- 
venue would not be restored to its former state, the orders 
in council continuing. Without an export trade, which those 
orders prevent, inevitable ruin would ensue, if we imported 
as freely as we did prior to the embargo. A nation that car- 
ries on an import trade without an export trade to support it 
must, in the end, be as certainly bankrupt, as the individual 
would be, who incurred an annual expenditure without an in- 
come. 

He had no disposition to magnify, or dwell upon the ca- 
talogue of injuries we had received from England. He could 
not, however, overlook the impressment of our seamen; 
an aggression upon which he never reflected without feel- 
ings of indignation, which would not allow him appropriate 
language to describe its enormity. Not content with seiz- 
ing upon all our property which falls within her rapacious 
grasp, the personal rights of our countrymen — rights which 
forever ought to be sacred, are trampled upon and violated. 
The orders in council were pretended to have been reluc- 
tantly adopted as a measure of retaliation. The French de- 
crees, their alleged basis, are revoked. England resorts to 
the expttdient of denying the fact of the revocation, and Sir 
William Scott, in the celebrated case of Fox and others, 
suspends judgment that proof may be adduced of it. At 



AUGMENTATION OF MILITARY FORCE. 37 

the same moment when the British ministry, through that 
judge, is thus affecting to controvert that fact, and to place 
the release of our property upon its establishment, instruc- 
tions are prepared for Mr. Foster to meet at Washington the 
very revocation which they were contesting. And how does 
he meet it? By fulfilling the engagement solemnly made to 
rescind the orders? No, sir, but by demanding that we shall 
secure the introduction into the continent of British manu- 
factures? 

England is said to be fighting for the world, and shall we, 
it is asked, attempt to weaken her exertions? If indeed the 
aim of the French emperor be universal dominion (and he was 
willing to allow it to the argument) how much nobler a cause 
is presented to British valor! But how is her philanthropic 
purpose to be achieved? By a scrupulous observance of the 
rights of others; by respecting that code of public law 
which she professes to vindicate — and by abstaining from 
self-aggrandizement. Then would she command the sympa- 
thies of the world. What are we required to do by those who 
would engage our feelings and wishes in her behalf? To bear 
the actual cuffs of her arrogance, that we may escape a chi- 
merical French subjugation! We are invited — conjured to 
drink the portion of British poison actually presented to our 
lips, that we may avoid the imperial dose prepared by per- 
turbed imaginations. We are called upon to submit to de- 
basement, dishonor and disgrace — to bow the neck to roy- 
al insolence, as a course of preparation for manly resistance 
to gallic invasion! What nation, what individual was ever 
taught, in the schools of ignominious submission, these pa- 
triotic lessons of freedom and independence? Let those who 
contend for this humiliating doctrine read its refutation in 
the history of the very man against whose insatiable thirst ot 
dominion we are warned. The experience of desolated 
Spain, for the last fifteen years, is worth volumes. Did 
she find her repose and safety in subserviency to the will 
of that man? Had she boldly stood forth and repelled the first 
attempt to dictate to her councils, her monarch would not be 
now a miserable captive in Marseilles. Let us come home 
to our own history; it was not by submission that our fathers 
achieved our independence. The patriotic wisdom that 
placed you, Mr. Chairman, under that canopy, penetrated the 
designs of a corrupt ministry, and nobly fronted encroachment 
on its first appearance. It saw, beyond the petty taxes with 



38 AUGMENTATION OF MILITARY FORCE, 

which it commenced, a long train of oppressive mea- 
sures terminating in the total annihilation of liberty, and 
contemptible as they were, it did not hesitate to resist them. 
Take the experience of the last four or five years, which he 
was sorry to say exhibited, in appearance at least, a 
different kind of spirit. He did not wish to view the past 
further than to guide us for the future. We were but yes- 
terday contending for the indirect trade — the right to export 
to Europe the coffee and sugar of the West Indies. To-day 
we are asserting our claim to the direct trade — the right to 
export our cotton, tobacco and other domestic produce to 
market. Yield this point, and to-morrow intercourse between 
New York and New Orleans — between the planters on James 
river and Richmond will be interdicted. For, sir, the ca- 
reer of encroachment is never arrested by submission. It 
will advance while there remains a single privilege on which 
it can operate. Gentlemen say that this government is unfit 
forany war, butawarof invasion. What,isit not equivalent to 
invasion if the mouths of our harbours and outlets are blocked 
up, and we are denied egress from our own waters? Or, 
when the burglar is at our door, shall we bravely sally forth 
and repel his felonious entrance, or meanly sculk within the 
cells of the castle. 

He contended that the real cause of British aggression, 
was not to distress an enemy, but to destroy a rival. A 
comparative view of our commerce with England and the 
continent, would satisfy anyone of the truth of this remark. 
Prior to the embargo, the balance of trade between this 
country and England was between eleven and fifteen millions 
of dollars in favour of England. Our consumption of her 
manufactures was annually increasing, and had risen to near- 
ly fifty millions of dollars. We exported to her what she 
most wanted, provisions and raw materials for her manufac- 
tures, and received in return what she was most desirous to 
sell. Our exports to France, Holland, Spain and Italy, ta- 
king an average of the years, 1802, 3, and 4, amounted to 
about Si 2,000,000 of domestic, and about 818,000,000 of 
foreign produce. Our imports from the same countries 
amounted to about §25,000,000. The foreign produce ex- 
ported consisted chiefly of luxuries from the West Indies. 
It is apparent that this trade, the balance of which was in 
favor not of France but of the United States, was not of very 
vital consequence to the enemy of England* Would she. 



AUGMENTATION OF MILITiiRY FORCE. 39 

therefore, for the sole purpose of depriving her adversary 
of this commerce, relinquish her valuable trade with this 
country, exhibiting the essential balance in her favor — nay 
more, hazard the peace of the country? No, sir, you must 
look for an explanation of her conduct in the jealousies of a 
rival. She sickens at your prosperity, and beholds in your 
growth — your sails spread on every ocean, and your nume- 
rous seamen, the foundations of apowerwhich,at novery dis- 
tant day, is to make her tremble for her naval superiority. 
He had omitted before to notice the loss of our seamen, if 
we continued in our present situation. What would become 
of the 100,000 (for he understood there was about that num- 
ber) in the American service? Would they not leave us and 
seek employment abroad, perhaps in the very country that 
injures us? 

It is said that the effect of the war at home, will be a 
change of those who administer the government, who will 
be replaced by others that will make a disgraceful peace. 
He did not believe it. Not a man in the nation could really 
doubt the sincerity with which those in power have sought, 
by all honorable and pacific means, to protect the interests of 
the country. When the people saw exercised towards both 
belligerents the utmost impartiality, witnessed the same equal 
terms tendered to both; andbcheldthegovernmentsuccessive- 
ly embracing an accommodation with each in exactly the 
same spirit of amity, he was fully persuaded, now that war 
was the only alternative left to us by the injustice of one of 
the powers, that the support and confidence of the people 
would remain undiminished. He was one, however, who 
was prepared (and he would not believe that he was more 
so than any other member of the committee) to march on 
in the road of his duty at all hazards. What! shall it be 
said that our amor patriae is located at these desks — that we 
pusillanimously cling to our seats here, rather than boldly vin- 
dicate the most inestimable rights of the country? Whilst 
the heroic Daviess and his gallant associates, exposed to all 
the dangers of treacherous savage warfare, are sacrificing 
themselves for the good of their country, shall we shrink 
from our duty? 

He concluded, by hoping that his remarks had tended to 
prove that the quantum of the force required was not too 
great — that in its nature it was free from the objections 
urged against it, and that the object of its application was 
one imperiously called for by the present peculiar crisis. 



40 



INCREASE OF THE NAVY. 

Speech on the Navy Bill, delivered in the House of /Represen- 
tatives, January 22, 1812. 

Mr. Clay (the speaker,) rose to present his views on the 
bill before the committee. He said as he did not precisely 
agree in opinion with any gentleman who had spoken, he 
should take the liberty of detaining the committee a few 
moments, while he offered to their attention some observa- 
tions. He was highly gratified with the temper and ability 
with which the discussion had hitherto been conducted. It 
was honourable to the house, and, he trusted, would conti- 
nue to be manifested on many future occasions. 

On this interesting topic a diversity of opinion has exist- 
ed almost ever since the adoption of the present govern- 
ment. On the one hand, there appeared to him to have been 
attempts made to precipitate the nation into all the evils of 
naval extravagance, which had been productive of so much 
mischief in other countries; and, on the other, strongly feel- 
ing this mischief, there has existed an unreasonable preju- 
dice against providing such a competent naval protection 
for our commercial and maritime rights as is demanded by 
their importance, and as the increased resources of the coun- 
try amply justify. 

The attention of congress has been invited to this subject 
by the president, in his message delivered at the opening 
of the session. Indeed, had it been wholly neglected by the 
chief magistrate, from the critical situation of the country, 
and the nature of the rights proposed to be vindicated, it 
must have pressed itself upon our attention. But, said Mr. 
Clay, the president in his message observes: " Your atten- 
tion will, of course, be drawn to such provisions on the sub- 
ject of our naval force as may be required for the service 
to which it is best adapted. 1 submit to congress the sea- 
sonableness also of an authority to augment the stock of 
such materials as are imperishable in their nature or may 
not at once be attainable?" The president, by this recom- 
mendation, clearly intimates an opinion that the naval force 
of this country is capable of producing effect; and the pro- 



ON THE INCREASE OF THE NAVY. 41 

pTiety of laying up imperishable materials, was no doubt 
suggested lor the purpose of making additions to the navy, 
as convenience and exigences might direct. 

It appeared to Mr. C. a little extraordinary that so much, 
as it seemed to him, unreasonable jealousy should exist 
against the naval establishment. If, said he, we look back 
to the period of the formation of the constitution, it will be 
found that no such jealousy was then excited. In placing 
the physical force of the nation at the disposal of congress, 
the convention manifested much greater apprehension of 
abuse in the power given to ^ aise armies, than in that to pro- 
vide a navy. In reference to the navy, congress is put 
under no restrictions; but with respect to the army — that 
description of force which has been so often employed to 
subvert the liberties of mankind— they are subjected to lim- 
itations designed to prevent the abuse of this dangerous 
power. But it was not his intention to detain the committee 
by a discussion on the comparative utility and safety of 
these two kinds of force. He would, however, be in- 
dulged in saying, that he thought gentlemen had wholly 
failed in maintaining the position they had assumed, that 
the fall of maritime powers was attributable to their navies. 
They have told you, indeed, that Carthage, Genoa, Venice, 
and other nations had navies, and notwithstanding were 
finally destroyed. But have they shown by a train of 
argument, that their overthrow was, in any degree, attribu- 
table to their maritime greatness? Have they attempted even 
to show that there exists in the nature of this power a ne- 
cessary tendency to destroy the nation using it? Assertion 
is substituted for argument; inferences not authorized by 
historical facts are arbitrarily drawn; things wholly uncon- 
nected with each other are associated together — a very logi- 
cal mode of reasoning, it must be admitted! In the same 
way he could demonstrate how idle and absurd our attach- 
ments are to freedom itself He might say for example, that 
Greece and Rome had forms of free government, and that 
they no longer exist; and, deducing their fall from their de- 
votion to liberty, the conclusion, in favor of despotism, 
would very satisfactorily follow! He demanded what there is 
in the nature and construction of maritime power to excite 
the fears that have been indulged? Do gentlemen really ap- 
prehend that a body of seamen will abandon their proper 
element, and, placing themselves under an aspiring chiefs 
G 



42 ON THE rNCREASE OF THE NAVY. 

will erect a throne to his ambition? Will they deign to listen 
to the voice of history, and learn how chimerical are their 
apprehensions? 

But the source of alarm is in ourselves. Gentlemen fear 
that if we provide a marine it will produce collisions with 
foreign nations — plunge us into war, and ultimately over- 
turn the constitution of the country. Sir, if you wish to 
avoid foreign collision you had better abandon the ocean — 
surrender all your commerce; give up all your prosperity. It 
is the thing protected, not the instrument of protection, that 
involves you in war. Commerce engenders collision, colli- 
sion war, and war, the argument supposes, leads to despo- 
tism. Would the councils of that statesman be deemed wise 
who would recommend that the nation should be unarmed — 
that the art of war, the martial spirit, and martial exercises, 
should be prohibited — who should declare in the language of 
Oihelio that the nation must bid farewell to the neighing 
steed, and the shrill trump, the spirit stirring drum, the ear 
piercing fife, and all the pride, pomp and circumstance 
of glorious war — and that the great body of the people 
should be taught that national happiness was to be found in 
perpetual peace alone? No, Sir. And yet every argument 
in favor of a power of protection on land applies, in some 
degree, to a power of protection on the sea. Undoubtedly 
a commerce void of naval protection is more exposed to 
rapacity than a guarded commerce; and if we wish to invite 
the continuance of the old or the enactment o; new edicts, let 
us refrain from all exertion upon that element where we must 
operate, and where, in the end, they must be resisted. 

For his part (Mr. C. said) he did not allow himself to be 
alarmed by those apprehensions of maritime power which 
appeared to agitate other gentlemen. In the nature of our 
government he beheld abundant security against abuse. He 
would be unwilling to tax the land to support the rights of the 
sea, and was for drawing from the sea itself the resources 
with which its violated freedom should at all times be vin- 
dicated. Whilst this principle is adhered to there will be 
no danger of running into the folly and extravagance which 
so much alarms gentlemen; and whenever it is abandoned — • 
whenever congress shall lay burthensome taxes to augment 
the navy beyond what may be authorized by the increased 
wealth, and demanded by the exigences of the country, the 
people will interpose, and removing their unworthy repre- 



ON THE INCREASE OF THE NAVY. 43 

sentatives, apply the appropriate corrective. Mr. C. then 
could not see any just ground of dread in the nature of na- 
val power. It was on the contrary free from the evils attend- 
ant upon standing armies. And the genius of our institutions, 
— the great representative principle, in the practical enjoy- 
ment of which we are so eminently distinguished, afforded 
the best guarantee against the ambition and wasteful extra- 
vagance of government. — What maritime strength is it ex- 
pedient to provide for the United States? In considering this 
subject three different degrees of naval power present them- 
selves. In the first place, such a force as would be capable 
of contending with that which any other nation is able to 
bring on the ocean — a force that, boldly scouring every sea, 
would challenge to combat the fleets of other powers how- 
ever great. He admitted it was impossible at this time, per- 
haps it never would be desirable, for this country to establish 
so extensive a navy. Indeed he should consider it as mad- 
ness in the extreme in this government to attempt to provide 
a navy able to cope with the fleets of Great Britain, wherev- 
er they might be met. 

The next species of naval power, to which he would ad- 
vert, is that which, without adventuring into distant seas, 
and keeping generally in our own harbours, and on our 
coasts, would be competent to beat off any squadron which 
might be attempted to be permanently stationed in our wa- 
ters. His friends from South Carolina, (^Messers Cheves and 
Lowndes) had satisfactorily shown that to effect this object, 
a force equivalent only to one-third ol that which the main- 
tenance of such a squadron must require, would be sufficient 
' — that if, for example, England should determine to station 
permanently upon our coast a squadron of twelve ships of the 
line, it would require for this service thirty-six ships of the 
line, one-third in port repairing, one-third on the passage, 
and one third on the station. But that is a force which it 
has been shown that even England, with her boasted navy, 
could not spare for the American service, whilst she is en- 
gaged in the presentcontest. Mr. C. said, that he was desirous 
of seeing such a force as he had described, that is iwelv e ships 
of the line and fifteen or twenty frigates provided forthe Unit- 
ed States; but he admitted that it was unattainable in the pre- 
sent situation of the finances of the country. He contended, 
however, that it was such as congress ought to set about 
providing, and he hoped in less than ten years to see it ac- 



44. ON THE INCREASE OF THE NAVY. 

tually established. He was far from surveying the vast mar- 
itime power of Great Britain with the desponding eye with 
which other gentlemen beheld it. He could not allow himself 
to be discouraged at a prospect of even her thousand ships. 
This country only required resolution and a proper exer- 
tion of its immense resources to command respect, and to 
vindicate every essential right. When we consider our re- 
moteness from Europe, the expense, difficulty, and perils to 
which any squadron would be exposed while stationed off our 
coasts, he entertained no doubt that the force to which he 
referred would ensure the command of our own seas. Such 
a force would avail itself of our extensive sea board and 
numerous harbours, every where affording asylums, to which 
it could safely retire from a superior fleet, or from which it 
could issue for the purpose of annoyance. To the opinion 
of his colleague (Mr. M'Kee) who appeared to think that 
it was in vain for us to make any struggle on the ocean, he 
would oppose the sentiments of his distinguished connexion, 
the heroic Daviess, who fell in the batde of Tippecanoe. 
[ Here Mr. C. read certain parts of a work written by Col. 
Daviess, in which the author attempts to show, that as the 
aggressions upon our commerce were not committed by fleets, 
but by single vessels, they could in the same manner be best 
retaliated: that the force of about twenty or thirty frigates 
would be capable of inflicting great injury on English com- 
merce by picking up stragglers, cutting off" convoys, and seiz- 
ing upon every moment of supineness; and that such a force, 
with our seaports and harbours well fortified, and aided by 
privateers, would be really formidable, and would annoy 
the British navy and commerce, just as the French army was 
assailed in Egypt, the Persian army in Scythia, and the Ro- 
man army in Parthia.3 

The third description of force, worthy of consideration, 
is that which would be able to prevent any single vessel, of 
whatever metal, from endangering our whole coasting trade, 
blocking up our harbours, and laying under contribution our 
cities — a force competent to punish the insolence of the 
commander of any single ship, and to preserve in our own 
jurisdiction the inviolability of our peace and our laws. A 
force of this kind is entirely within the compass of our 
means, at this time. Is there a reflecting man in the nation 
who would not charge congress with a culpable neglect of 
its duty, if, for the want of such a force, a single ship were 



ON THE INCREASE OF THE NAVY. 45 

to bombard one of our cities! Would not every honourable 
member of the committee inflict on himself the bitterest re- 
proaches, if,gby failing to make an inconsiderable addition 
to our little gallant navy, a single British vessel should place 
New York under contribution! Yes, Sir, when the city is in 
flames, its wretched inhabitants begin to repent of their ne- 
glect, in not providing engines and water buckets. If, said 
Mr. C. we are not able to meet the wolves of the forest, 
shall we put up with the barking impudence of every petty 
cur that trips across our way? Because we cannot guard 
against every possible danger shall we provide against none? 
He hoped not. He had hardly expected that the instruct- 
ing, but humiliating lesson was so soon to be forgotten which 
was taught us in the murder of Pierce — the attack on the 
Chesapeake — and the insult offered in the very harbour of 
Charleston, which the brave old fellow who commanded the 
fort in vain endeavored to chastise. It was a rule with Mr. 
C. when acting either in a public or private character, to 
attempt nothing more than what there existed a prospect of 
accomplishing. He was therefore not in favor of entering 
into any mad projects on this subject; but for deliberately 
and resolutely pursuing what he believed to be within the 
power of government. Gentlemen refer to the period of 
1798, and we are reminded of the principles maintained by 
the opposition at that time. He had no doubt of the cor- 
rectness of that opposition. The naval schemes of that day 
were premature, not warranted by the resources of the 
country, and were contemplated for an unnecessary war into 
which the nation was about to be plunged. He always ad- 
mired and approved the zeal and ability with which that 
opposition was conducted by the distinguished gentleman 
now at the head of the treasury. But the state of things is 
totally altered. What was folly in 1798 may be wisdom now. 
At that time we had a revenue only of about six millions. 
Our revenue now upon a supposition that commerce is re- 
stored, is about sixteen millions. The population of the 
country too is greatly increased, nearly doubled, and the 
wealth of the nation is perhaps tripled. Whilst our ability 
to construct a navy is thus enhanced, the necessary maritime 
protection is proportionably augniented. Independent of the 
extension of our commerce, since the year 1798, we have 
had an addition of more than five hundred miles to our 
coast, from the bay of Perdido to the mouth of the Sabine — 



46 ON THE INCREASE OF THE NAVY. 

a weak and defenceless accession, requiring more than any 
other part of our maritime frontier, the protecting arm of 
government. 

The groundless imputation, that those who were friendly 
to a navy were espousing a principle inimical to freedom, 
should not terrify him. He was not ashamed when in such 
company as the illustrious author of the notes on Virginia, 
whose opinion on the subject of a navy, contained in that 
work, contributed to the formation of his own. But the prin- 
ciple of a navv, Mr. C. contended, was no longer open to 
controversy. It was decided when Mr. Jefferson came into 
power. With all the prejudices against a navy which are al- 
leged by some to have been then brought into the adminis- 
tration — with many honest prejudices he admitted — the 
rash attempt was not made to destroy the establishment. It 
was reduced to only what was supposed to be within the 
financial capacity of the country. If, ten years ago, when 
all those prejudices were to be combatted, even in time of 
peace, it was deemed proper, by the then administration to 
retain in service ten frigates, he put it to the candor of gen- 
tlemen to say, if now, when we are on the eve of a war, and 
taking into view the actual growth of the country, and the 
acquisition of our coast on the Gulf of Mexico, we ought not 
to add to the establishment. 

Mr. C. said he had hitherto alluded more particularly to 
the exposed situation of certain parts of the Atlantic fron- 
tier Whilst he felt the deepest solicitude for the safety of 
New York and other cities on the coast, he would be par- 
doned by the committee for referring to the interests of that 
section ot the union from which he came. If, said he, there 
be a point more than any other in the United States, demand- 
ing the aid of naval protection, that point is the mouth of the 
Mississippi. What is the population of the western country, 
dependent on this single outlet for its surplus productions? 
Kentucky, according to the last enumeration, has 406,511, 
Tennessee 261,727, and Ohio 230,760 And when the popu- 
lation of the western parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania 
and the territories which are drainea by the Mississippi or 
its waters, is added, it will form an aggregate equal to aljout 
one-fifth of ihe whole population of the United States, resting 
all their commeniai hopes upon this solitary vent! The 
bulky articlts of which their surplus productions consist can 
be transported no other way. They will not bear the ex- 



ON THE INCREASE OF THE NAVY. 47 

pense of a carnage up the Ohio and Tennessee and across 
the mountains, and the circuitous voyage of the lakes is 
out of the question. Whilst most other states have the option 
of numerous outlets, so that if one he closed resort can be 
had to others, this vast population has no alternative. Close 
the mouth of the Mississippi and their export trade is ani- 
hilated. He called the attention of his western friends, es- 
pecially his worthy Kentucky friends (from whom he felt 
himself with regret constrained to differ on this occasion) 
to the state of the public feeling in that quarter, whilst the 
navigation of the Mississippi was withheld by Spain; and to 
the still more recent period when the right of depot was 
violated. The whole country was in commotion, and at the 
nod of government would have fallen on Baton Rouge and 
New Orleans and punished the treachery of a perfidious 
government. Abandon all idea of protecting, by maritime 
force, the mouth of the Mississippi and we shall have the 
recurrence of many similar scenes. We shall hold the inesti- 
mable right of the navigation of that river b) the most pre- 
carious tenure. The whole commerce of the Mississippi — a 
commerce that is destined to be the richest that was ever 
borne by a single stream — is placed at the mercy of a single 
ship lying off the Balize! Again: the convulsions of the 
new world, still more perhaps than those of Europe, chal- 
lenge our attention. Whether the ancient dynasty of Spain 
is still to be upheld or subverted, is extremely uncertain, if 
the bonds connecting the parent country with her colonies 
are not forever broken. What is to become of Cuba? Will 
it assert independence or remain the province of some Eu- 
ropean power? In either case the whole trade of the western 
country, which must pass almost within gun-shot of the 
Moro Castle, is exposed to danger. It was not however of 
Cuba he was afraid. He wished her independent. But sup- 
pose England gets possession of that valuable island. With 
Cuba on the south and Halifax on the north — and the con- 
sequent means of favouring or annoying commerce of par- 
ticular sections of the country — he asked if the most sanguine 
amongst us would not tremble for the integrity of the union? 
If along with Cuba, Great Britain should acquire East Flori- 
da, she will have the absolute command of the Gulf of Mexi- 
co. Can gentlemen, particularly gentlemen from the western 
country, contemplate such possible, nay probable, events, 
without desiring to see at least the commencement of such 



48 ON THE INCREASE OF THE NAVY 

a naval establishment as would effectually protect the Mis- 
sissippi? He intreated them to turn their attention to the 
defenceless situation of the Orleans Territory, and to the 
nature of its population. It is known that whilst under the 
Spanish government they experienced the benefit of naval 
security. Satisfy them that under the government of the 
United States, they will enjoy less protection, and you dis- 
close the most fatal secret. 

The general government receives annually for the public 
lands, about ^600,000. One of the sources whence the wes- 
tern people raise this sum, is the exportation of the surplus 
productions of that country. Shut up the Mississippi, and 
this source is in a great measure dried up. But suppose this 
government to look upon the occlusion of the Mississippi 
without making an effort on that element, where alone it 
could be made successfully, to remove the blockading force, 
and at the same time to be vigorously pressing payment for 
the public lands; he shuddered at the consequences. Deep 
rooted as he knew the affections of the western people to 
be to the Union, (and he would not admit their patriotism 
to be surpassed by any other quarter of the country) if such 
a state of things were to last any considerable time, he 
should seriously apprehend a withdrawal of their confidence. 
Nor, sir, could we derive any apology for the failure to af- 
ford this protection from the want ot the materials for na- 
val architecture. On the contrary all the articles entering 
into the construction of a navy, iron, hemp, timber, pitch, 
abound in the greatest quantities on the waters of the Mis- 
sissippi. Kentucky alone, he had no doubt, raised hemp 
enough the last year for the whole consumption of the Uni- 
ted States. 

If, as he conceived, gentlemen had been unsuccessful in 
showing that the downfall of maritime nations was ascriba- 
ble to their navies, they have been more fortunate in show- 
ing by the instances to which they had referred, that with- 
out a marine no foreign commerce could exist to any extent. 
It is the appropriate — the natural (if the term may be allow- 
ed) connexion of foreign commerce. The shepherd and his 
faithful dog are not more necessary to guard the flocks that 
browze and gambol on the neighbouring mountain. He con- 
sidered the prosperity of foreign commerce indissolubly 
allied to marine power. Neglect to provide the one and you 
must abandon the other. Suppose the expected war with 



ON THE INCREASE OF THE NAVY. 49 

England is commenced, you enter and subjugate Canada, 
and she still refuses to do you justice — what other possible 
mode will remain to operate on the enemy but upon that 
element where alone you can then come in contact with him? 
And if you do not prepare to protect there your own com- 
merce and to assail his, will he not sweep from the ocean 
every vessel bearing your flag, and destroy even the coast- 
ing trade? But from the arguments of gentlemen it would 
seem to be questioned if foreign commerce is worth the kind 
of protection insisted upon. What is this foreign commerce 
that has suddenly become so inconsiderable? It has, with 
very trifling aid from other sources, defrayed the expenses 
of government ever since the adoption of the present con- 
stitution — maintained an expensive and successful war with 
the Indians — a war with the Barbary powers — a quasi war 
with France — sustained the charges of suppressing two in- 
surrections, and extinguishing upwards of forty-six millions 
of the public debt. In revenue it has, since the year 1789, 
yielded one hundred and ninety-one millions of dollars. Dur- 
ing the first four years after the commencement of the pre- 
sent government the revenue averaged only about two mil- 
lions annually — during a subsequent period of four years it 
rose to an average of fifteen millions annually, or became equi- 
valent to a capital of two hundred and fifty millions of dol- 
lars, at an interest of six per centum per annum. And if our 
commerce is re-established it will, in the course of time, 
nett a sum for which we are scarcely furnished with figures 
in arithmetic. Taking the average of the last nine years 
fcomprehending of course the season of the embargo) our 
exports average upwards of thirty-seven millions of dollars, 
which is equivalent to a capital of more than six hundred 
millions of dollars at six per centum interest, all of which must 
be lost in the event of a destruction of foreign commerce. In 
the abandonment of that commerce is also involved the sa- 
crifice of our brave tars, who have engaged in the pursuit 
from which they derive subsistence and support, under the 
confidence that government would afford them that just pro- 
tection which is due to all. They will be driven into foreign 
employment, for it is vain to expect that they will renounce 
their habits of life. 

The spirit of commercial enterprize so strongly depicted 
by the gentleman from New York (Mr. Mitch.el,) is diffus- 
ed throughout the country. It is a passion as unconquerable 
H 



so ON THE INCREASE OF THE NAVY. 

as any with which nature has endowed us. You may at- 
tenrjpt indeed to regulate but you cannot destroy it. It ex- 
hibits itself as wt-U on the waters of the western country as 
on the waters and shores of the Atlantic. Mr. C. had 
heard of a vessel built at Pittsburg having crossed the At- 
lantic and entered an European port (he believed that of 
Leghorn.) The master of the vessel laid his papers before 
the proper custom officer, which, of course, stated the place 
of her departure. The officer boldly denied the existence of 
any such American port as Pittsburg, and threatened a sei- 
zure of the vessel as being furnished with forged papers. 
The affrighted master procured a map of the United States, 
and, pointing out the gulf of Mexico, took the officer to the 
mouth of the Mississippi — traced the course of the Missis- 
sippi more than a thousand miles to the mouth of the Ohio; 
and conducting him still a thousand miles higher, to the 
junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela — there, he ex- 
claimed, stands Pittsburg, the port from which I sailed! 
The custom house officer, prior to the production of this ev- 
idence, would have as soon believed that the vessel had 
performed a voyage from the moon. 

In delivering the sentiments he had expressed, Mr. C. 
considered himself as conforming to a sacred constitutional 
duty. When the power to provide a navy was confided to 
congress, it must have been the intention of the convention 
to submit only to the discretion of that body the period 
when that power should be exercised. That period had, in 
his opinion, arrived, at least for making a respectable be- 
ginning. And whilst he thus discharged what he conceived 
to be his duty, he derived great pleasure from the reflection 
that he was supporting a measure calculated to impart ad- 
ditional strength to our happy Union. Diversified as are the 
interests of its various parts, how admirably do they har- 
monise and blend together! We have only to make a proper 
use of the bounties spread before us, to render us prosper- 
ous and powerful. Such a navy as he had contended for, 
will form a new bond of connexion between the states, con- 
centrating their hopes, their interests and their affections. 



51 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 

Speech on the New Army Bill^ delivered in the House of 
Representatives y January, 1813. 

Mr. Clay (the speaker,) said he was gratified yesterday 
by the recommitment of this bill to a committee of the 
whole house, from two considerations; one, since it afforded 
him a slight relaxation from a most fatiguing situation; and 
the other, because it furnished him with an opportunity of 
presenting to the committee, his sentiments upon the im- 
portant topics which had been mingled in the debate. He 
regretied, however, that the necessity under which the 
chairman had been placed of putting the question,* pre- 
cluded the opportunity he had wished to enjoy, of render- 
ing more acceptable to the committee any thing he might 
have to offer on the interesting points, on which it was his 
duty to touch. Unprepared, however, as he was to speak 
on this day, of which he was the more sensible, from the 
ill state of his health, he would solicit the attention of the 
committee for a few moments. 

I was a little astonished, I confess, said Mr. C. when I 
found this bill permitted to pass silently through the com- 
mittee of the whole, and, not selected, until the moment 
when the question was about to be put for its third reading, 
as the subject on which gentlemen in the opposition chose 
to lay before the House their views of the interesting atti- 
tude in which the nation stands. It did appear to me, that 
the Loan bill, which will soon come before us, would have 
afforded a much more proper occasion, it being more essen- 
tial, as providing the ways and means for the prosecution 
of the war. But the gentlemen had the right of selection, 
and having exercised it, no matter how improperly, 1 am 
gratified, whatever I may think of the character of some 
part of the debate, at the latitude in which for once, they 
have been indulged. I claim only, in return, of gentlemen 

* The chairman had risen to put the question, which would have cut 
Mr. C. off from the opportunity of speaking', by carrying the bill to the 
House. — Editor. 



52 ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 

on the other side of the House, and of the committee, a like 
indulgence in expressing my sentiments, with the same un- 
restrained freedom. Perhaps in the course of the remarks 
which I may feel myself called upon to make, gentlemen 
may apprehend that they assume too harsh an aspect: but I 
have only now to say, that I shall speak of parties, measures, 
and things, as they strike my moral sense, protesting against 
the imputation of any intention, on my part, to wound the 
feelings of any gentlemen. 

Considering the situation in which this country is now 
placed, — a state of actual war, with one of the most powerful 
nations on the earth, — it may not be useless to take a view 
of the past, and of the various parties which have at differ- 
ent times appeared in this country, and to attend to the 
manner by which we have been driven from a peaceful pos- 
ture, to our present warlike attitude. Such an inquiry, may 
assist in guiding us to that result, an honourable peace, which 
must be the sincere desire of every friend to America. The 
course of that opposition, by which the administration of 
the government had been unremittingly impeded for the 
last twelve years, v;as singular, and, I believe, unexampled 
in the history of any country. It has been alike the duty 
and the interest of the administration to preserve peace. It 
was their duty, because it is necessary to the growth of an 
infant people, to their genius, and to their habits. It was 
their interest, because a change of the condition of the na- 
tion, brings along with it a danger of the loss of the affections 
of the people. The administration has not been forgetful 
of these solemn obligations. No art has been left unas- 
saycd; no experiment, promising a favourable result, left 
untried, to maintain the peaceful relations of the country. 
When, some six or seven years ago, the affairs of the nation 
assumed a threatening aspect, a partial non-importation was 
adopted. As they grew more alarming, an embargo was 
imposed. It would have accomplished its purpose, but it 
was sacrificed upon the altar of conciliation. — Vain and 
fruitless attempt to propitiate! Then came along non-inter- 
course; and a general non-importation followed in the train. 
In the mean time, any indications of a return to the public 
law and the path of justice, on the part of either belligerent, 
are seized upon with avidity by the administration, — the 
arrangement with Mr. Erskine is concluded. It is first 
applauded, and then censured by the opposition. No matter 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 53 

with what unfeigned sincerity, with what real effort ad- 
ministration cultivates peace, the opposition insist that it 
alone is culpable for every breach that is made between the 
two countries. Because the President thought proper, in 
accepting the proffered reparation for the attack on a na- 
tional vessel, to intimate that it would have better comported 
with the justice of the king, (and who does not think so?) 
to punish the offending officer, the opposition, entering into 
the royal feelings, sees in that imaginary insult, abundant 
cause for rejecting Mr. Erskine's arrangement. On an- 
other occasion, you cannot have forgotten the hypocritical 
ingenuity which they displayed, to devest Mr. Jackson's 
correspondence of a premeditated insult to this country. If 
gentlemen would only reserve for their own government, 
half the sensibility which is indulged for that of Great Bri- 
tain, they would find much less to condemn. Restriction 
after restriction has been tried, — negociation has been re- 
sorted to, until further negociation would have been dis- 
graceful. Whilst these peaceful experiments are undergo- 
ing a trial, what is the conduct of the opposition? They 
are the champions of war, — the proud, — the spirited, — the 
sole repository of the nation's honour, — the men of exclusive 
vigor and energy. The administration, on the contrary, is 
weak, feeble, and pusillanimous, — " incapable of being kick- 
ed into a war." The maxim, " not a cent for tribute, mil- 
lions for defence," is loudly proclaimed. Is the adminis- 
tration for negociation? The opposition is tired, sick, dis- 
gusted with negociation. They want to draw the sword 
and avenge the nation's wrongs. When, however, foreign 
nations, perhaps, emboldened by the very opposition here 
made, refuse to listen to the amicable appeals, which have 
been repeated and reiterated by the administration, to their 
justice and to their interests, — when, in fact, war with one 
of them has become identified with our independence and 
our sovereignty, and to abstain from it was no longer pos- 
sible, behold the opposition veering round and becoming 
the friends of peace and commerce. They tell you of the 
calamities of war, — its tragical events, — the squandering 
away of your resources,-— the waste of the public treasure, 
and the spilling of innocent blood. " Gorgons, hydras and 
chimeras dire." They tell you that honour is an illusion! 
Now we see them exhibiting the terrific forms of the roar- 
ing king of the forest. Now the meekness and humility of 



54 ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 

the lamb! They are for war and no restrictions, when the 
adnriinistration is for peace, 'I'hey are for peace and re- 
strictions, when the administration is for war. You find 
them, sir, tacking with every gale, displaying the colours 
of every party, and of all nations, steady only in one un- 
alterable purpose, to steer, if possible, into the haven of 
power. 

During all this time, the parasites of opposition do not 
fail by cunning sarcasm or sly inuendo to throw out the 
idea of French influence, which is known to be false, which 
ought to be met in one manner only, and that is by the lie 
direct. The administration of this country devoted to foreign 
influence! The administration of this country subservient 
to France! Great God! what a charge! how is it so influ- 
enced? By what ligament, on what basis, on what possible 
foundation does it rest? Is it similarity of language? No! 
we speak different tongues, we speak the English language. 
On the resemblance of our laws? No! the sources of our 
jurisprudence spring from another and a diff"crent country. 
On commercial intercourse? No! we have comparatively 
none with France. Is it from the correspondence in the 
genius of the two governments? No! here alone is the liber- 
ty of man secure from the inexorable despotism, which 
every where else tramples it under foot. Where then is 
the ground of such an influence? But, sir, I am insulting 
you by arguing on such a subject. Yet, preposterous and 
ridiculous as the insinuation is, it is propagated with so 
much industry, that there are persons found foolish and 
credulous enough to believe it. You will, no doubt, think 
it incredible (but I have nevertheless been told it as a fact,) 
that an honourable member of this house, unw in my eye, 
recently lost his election by the circulation of a silly story 
in his district, that he was the first cousin of the emperor 
Napoleon. The proof of the charge rested on the statement 
of facts, which was undoubtedly true. The gentleman in 
question, it was alleged, had married a connexion of the 
lady of the President of the United States, who was the 
intimate friend of Thomas JeflJerson, late President of the 
United States, who some years ago, was in the habit of 
wearing red French breeches. Now, taking these premises 
as established, you, Mr. Chairman, are too good a logician 
5iot to see that the conclusion necessarily follows! 

Throughout the period he had been speaking of, the op- 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. SS 

position has been distinguished, amidst all its veerings and 
changes by another inflexible feature, — the application to 
Bonaparte of every vile and opprobrious epithet our lan- 
guage, copious as it is in terms of vituperation, affords. 
He has been compared to every hideous monster, and beast, 
from that mentioned in the revelations, down to the most 
insignificant quadruped. He has been called the scourge 
of mankind, the destroyer of Europe, the great robber, the 
infidel, the modern Attila, and heaven knows by what other 
names. Really, gentlemen remind me of an obscure lady, 
in a city not very far off, who also took it into her head, in 
conversation with an accomplished French gentleman, to 
talk of the affairs of Europe. She too spoke of the destruc- 
tion of the balance of power, stormed and raged about the 
insatiable ambition of the emperor; called him the curse of 
mankind, the destroyer of Europe. The Frenchman listen- 
ed to her with perfect patience, and when she had ceased, 
said to her, with ineffable politeness; " Madam, it would 
give my master, the emperor, infinite pain, if he knew how 
hardly you thought of him." Sir, gentlemen appear to me 
to forget that they stand on American soil; that they are 
not in the British house of commons, but in the chamber 
of the house of representatives of the United States; that 
we have nothing to do with the affairs of Europe, the par- 
tition of territory and sovereignty there, except so far as 
these things affect the interests of our own country. Gen- 
tlemen transform themselves into the Burkes, Chathams, 
and Pitts of another country, and forgetting from honest 
zeal the interests of America, engage with European sen- 
sibility in the discussion of European interests. If gentle- 
men ask me whether I do not view with regret and horror the 
concentration of such vast power in the hands of Bonaparte? 
I reply that I do. I regret to see the emperor of China 
holding such immense sway over the fortunes of millions 
of our species. I regret to see Great Britain possessing so 
uncontrolled a command over all the waters of our globe. 
If I had the ability to distribute among the nations of Eu- 
rope their several portions of power and of sovereignty, I 
would say that Holland should be resuscitated, and given 
the weight she enjoyed in the days of her De Witts. I 
would confine France within her natural boundaries, the 
Alps, Pyrenees, and the Rhine, and make her a secondary 
naval power only. I would abridge the British maritime 



56 ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 

power, raise Prussia and Austria to their original condition j 
and preserve the integrity of the empire of Russia. But 
these are speculations. I look at the political transactions 
of Europe, with the single exception of their possible bear- 
ing upon us, as I do at the history of other countries, or 
other times. I do not survey them with half the interest that 
I do the movements in South America. Our political relation 
with them is much less important than it is supposed to be. 
I have no fears of French or English subjugation. If we 
are united we are too powerful for the mightiest nation in 
Europe, or all Europe combined. If we are separated and 
torn assunder, we shall become an easy prey to the weakest 
of them. In the latter dreadful contingency, our country 
will not be worth preserving. 

Next to the notice which the opposition has found itself 
called upon to bestow upon the French emperor, a distin- 
guished citizen of Virginia, formerly President of the Uni- 
ted States, has never for a moment failed to receive their 
kindest and most respectful attention. An honourable gen- 
tleman from Massachusetts, (Mr, Quincy,) of whom 1 am 
sorry to say, it becomes necessary for me, in the course of 
my remarks, to take some notice, has alluded to him in a re- 
markable manner. Neither his retirement from public office, 
his eminent services, nor his advanced age, can exempt this 
patriot from the coarse assaults of party malevolence. No, 
sir, in 1801, he snatched from the rude hand of usurpation 
the violated constitution of his country, and that is his crime. 
He preserved that instrument in form, and substance, and 
spirit, a precious inheritance for generations to come, and 
for this he can never be forgiven. How vain and impotent 
is party rage directed against such a man! He is not more 
elevated by his lofty residence, upon the summit of his own 
favourite mountain, than he is lifted, by the serenity of his 
mind, and the consciousness of a well spent life, above the 
malignant passions and bitter feelings of the day. No! his 
own beloved Monticello is not more moyed by the storms 
that beat against its sides, than is this illustrious man, by 
the bowlings of the whole British pack set loose from the 
Essex kennel! When the gentleman to whom I have been 
compelled to allude, shall have mingled his dust with that 
of his abused ancestors, when he shall have been consigned 
to oblivion, or if he lives at all, shall live only in the trea- 
sonable annals of a certain junto, the name of Jefferson will 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 57 

be hailed with gratitude, his memory honoured and cherish= 
ed as the second founder of the liberties of the people, and 
the period of his administration will be looked back to, as 
one of the happiest and brightest epochs of American his- 
tory.* An Oasis in the midst of a sandy desert. But I beg 
the gentleman's pardon; he has indeed secured to himself 
a more imperishable fame than I had supposed; I think it 
was about four years ago that he submitted to the house of 
representatives, an initiative proposition for an impeach- 
ment of Mr. Jefferson. The house condescended to con- 
sider it. The gentleman debated it with his usual temper^ 
moderation^ and wbanity. The house decided upon it in 
the most solemn manner, and, although the gentleman had 
some how obtained a second, the final vote stood, one for, 
and one hundred and seventeen against the proposition! 
The same historic page that transmitted to posterity the 
virtue and the glory of Henry the Great of France, for their 
admiration and example, has preserved the infamous name 
of the fanatic assassin of that excellent monarch. The same 
sacred pen that portrayed the sufferings and crucifixion of 
the Saviour of mankind, has recorded, for universal execra- 
tion, the name of him who was guilty, not of betraying his 
country, (but a kindred crime,) of betraying his God. 

In one respect there is a remarkable difference between 
the administration and the opposition, — it is in a sacred re- 
gard for personal liberty. When out of power my political 
friends condemned the surrender of Jonathan Bobbins; they 
opposed the violation of the freedom of the press, in the 
sedition law; they opposed the more insidious attack upon 
the freedom of the person under the imposing garb of an 
alien law. The party now in opposition, then in power, ad- 
vocated the sacrifice of the unhappy Robbins, and passed 
those two laws. True to our principles, we are now strug- 
gling for the liberty of our seamen against foreign oppres- 
sion. True to their's, they oppose a war undertaken for this 
object. They have indeed lately affected a tender solicitude 
for the liberties of .the people, and talk of the danger of 
standing armies, and the burden of taxes. But it must be 
evident to you, Mr. Chairman, that they speak in a foreign 
idiom. Their brogue evinces that it is not their vernacular 
tongue. What, the opposition, who in 1798 and 1799, could 

* This prediction is already beginning to be realized.— E(7. 



58 ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 

raise an useless army to fight an enemy three thousand miles 
distant from us, alarmed at the existence of one raised for 
a known and specified object, — the attack of the adjoining 
provinces of the enemy. What! the gentleman from Mas- 
sachusetts, who assisted by his vote to raise the army of 
25,000, alarmed at the danger of our liberties from this 
very army! 

But, sir, I must speak of another subject, which I never 
think of but with feelings of the deepest awe. The gentle- 
man from Massachusetts, in imitation of some of his pre- 
decessors of 1799, has entertained us with a picture of ca- 
binet plots, presidential plots, and all sorts of plots which 
have been engendered by the diseased state of the gentle- 
man's imagination. I wish, sir, that another plot of a much 
more serious and alarming character, — a plot that aims at 
the dismemberment ol our union, had only the same im- 
aginary existence. But no man, who has paid any attention 
to the tone of certain prints, and to transactions in a par- 
ticular quarter of the union, for several years past, can 
doubt the existence of such a plot. It was far, very far from 
my intention to charge the opposition with such a design. 
No, I believe them generally incapable of it. But I cannot 
say as much for some, who have been unworthily associated 
with them in the quarter of the union to which I have re- 
ferred. The gentleman cannot have forgotten his own sen- 
timent, uttered even on the floor of this house, " peaceably 
if we can, forcibly if we must;" nearly at the very time 
Henry's mission to Boston was undertaken. The flagitious- 
ness of that embassy had been attempted to be concealed, 
by directing the public attention to the price which, the 
gentleman says, was given for the disclosure. As if any 
price could change the atrociousness of the attempt on the 
part of Great Britain, or could extenuate, in the slightest 
degree, the offence of those citizens, who entertained and 
deliberated upon a proposition so infamous and unnatural! 
There was a most remarkable coincidence between some of 
the things which that man stales, and certain events in the 
quarter alluded to. In the contingency of war with Great 
Britain, it will be recollected that the neutrality and even- 
tual separation of that section of the union was to be brought 
about. How, sir, has it happened, since the declaration of 
war, that British officers in Canada have asserted to Ame- 
rican officers, that this very neutrality would take place? 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 59 

That they have so asserted can be established beyond con- 
troversy. The project is not brought forward openly, with 
a direct avowal of the intention. No, the stock of good 
sense and patriotism in that portion of the country is too 
great to be undisguisedly encountered. It is assailed from 
the masked batteries of friendship, of peace and commerce 
on the one side, and by the groundless imputation of op- 
posite propensities on the other. The affections of the peo- 
ple, there, are gradually to be undermined. The project is 
suggested or withdrawn; the diabolical dramatis personse, 
in this criminal tragedy, make their appearance or exit, as 
the audience, to whom they address themselves, applaud, or 
condemn. I was astonished, sir, in reading lately a letter, 
or pretended letter, published in a prominent print in that 
quarter, and written not in the fervor of party zeal, but 
coolly and dispassionately, to find that the writer affected to 
reason about a separation, and attempted to demonstrate its 
advantages to the different portions of the union, — deplor- 
ing the existence now of what he terms prejudices against 
it, but hoping for the arrival of the period when they shall 
be eradicated. But, sir, I will quit this unpleasant subject; 
I will turn from one, whom no sense of decency or proprie- 
ty could restrain from soiling the carpet on which he treads,* 
to gentlemen who have not forgotten what is due to them- 
selves, to the place in which we are assembled, or to those 
by whom they are opposed. The gentlemen from North 
Carolina, (Mr. Pearson,) from Connecticut, (Mr. Pitkin,) 
and from New York, (Mr. Bleeker,) have, with their usual 
decorum, contended that the war would not have been de- 
clared, had it not been for the duplicity of France, in with- 
holding an authentic instrument, repealing the decrees of 
Berlin and Milan, that upon the exhibition of such an in- 
strument the revocation of the orders in council took place; 
that this main cause of the war, but for which it would not 
have been declared, being removed, the administration ought 
to seek for the restoration of peace; and that upon its sin- 
cerely doing so, terms compatible with the honour and in- 
terest of this country might be obtained. It is my purpose, 
said Mr. C. to examine, first, into the circumstances under 

* It is due to Mr. C. to observe, that one of the most offensive expres- 
sions used by Mr. Q. an expression which produced disgust on all sides 
of the house, has been omitted in that gentleman's reported speech; 
ivhich in other respects has been much softened. — Editor. 



60 ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 

which the war was declared; secondly, into the causes of 
continuing it; and lastly, into the means which have been 
taken, or ought to be taken to procure peace; but sir, I am 
really so exhausted that, little as I am in the habit of ask- 
ing of the house an indulgence of this kind, I feel I must 
trespass on their goodness. 

[Here Mr. C. sat down. Mr. Newton moved that the 
committee rise, report progress and ask leave to sit again, 
which was done. On the next day he proceeded.] 

I am sensible, Mr. Chairman, that some part of the de- 
bate, to which this bill has given rise, has been attended by 
circumstances much to be regretted, not usual in this House, 
and of which it is to be hoped, there will be no repetition. 
The gentleman from Boston had so absolved himself from 
every rule of decorum and propriety, had so outraged all 
decency, that I have found it impossible to suppress the 
feelings excited on the occasion. His colleague, whom I 
have the honour to follow, (Mr. Wheaton,) whatever else 
he might not have proved, in his very learned, ingenious, 
and original exposition of the powers of this government, 
— an exposition in which he has sought, where nobody be- 
fore him has, and nobody after him will, look, for a grant 
of our powers, I mean the preamble to the constitution, — • 
has clearly shown, to the satisfaction of all who heard him, 
that the povver of defensive war is conferred. I claim the 
benefit of a similar principle, in behalf of my political friends, 
against the gentleman from Boston. I demand only the ex- 
ercise of the right of repulsion. No one is more anxious 
than I am to preserve the dignity and the freedom of debate, 
■ — no member is more responsible for its abuse, and if, on 
this occasion, its just limits have been violated, let him, who 
has been the unprovoked aggressor, appropriate to himself, 
exclusively, the consequences. 

I omitted yesterday, sir, when speaking of a delicate and 
painful subject, to notice a powerful engine which the con- 
spirators against the integrity of the union employ to effect 
their nefarious purposes — I mean southern influence. The 
true friend to his country, knowing that our constitution 
was the work of compromise, in which interests apparently 
conflicting were attempted to be reconciled, aims to extin- 
guish or allay prejudices. But this patriotic exertion does 
not suit the views of those who are urged on by diabolical 
ambition. They find it convenient to imagine the existence 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL> 61 

of certain improper influences, and to propagate with their 
utmost industry a belief of them. Hence the idea of southern 
preponderance, — Virginia influence, — the yoking of the re- 
spectable yeomanry of the north, with negro slaves, to the 
car of southern nabobs. If Virginia really cherished a re- 
prehensible ambition, an aim to monopolize the chief ma- 
gistracy of the country, how was such a purpose to be ac- 
complished? Virginia, alone, cannot elect a president, 
whose elevation depends upon a plurality of electoral votes, 
and a consequent concurrence of many states. Would Ver- 
mont, disinterested Pennsylvania, the Carolinas, indepen- 
dent Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, all 
consent to become the tools of inordinate ambition? But 
the present incumbent was designated to the office before 
his predecessor had retired. How? By public sentiment,— 
public sentiment which grew out of his known virtues, his 
illustrious services, and his distinguished abilities. Would 
the gentleman crush this public sentiment, — is he prepared 
to admit that he would arrest the progress of opinion? 

The war was declared because Great Britain arrogated 
to herself the pretension of regulating our foreign trade, 
under the delusive name of retaliatory orders in council, — 
a pretension by which she undertook to proclaim to Ame- 
rican cnterprize, — " Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther," 
— orders which she refused to revoke after the alleged cause 
of their enactment had ceased; because she persisted in the 
practice of impressing American seamen; because she had 
instigated the Indians to commit hostilities against us; and 
because she refused indemnity for her past injuries upon 
our commerce. I throw out of the question other wrongs. 
The war in fact was announced, on our part, to meet the 
war which she was waging on her part. So undeniable 
were the causes of the war, — so powerfully did they ad- 
dress themselves to the feelings of the whole American 
people, that when the bill was pending before this House, 
gentlemen in the opposition, although provoked to debate, 
would not, or could not, utter one syllable -against it. It is 
true they wrapped themselves up in sullen silence, pretend- 
ing they did not choose to debate such a question in secret 
session. Whilst speaking of the proceedings on that occa- 
sion, I beg to be permitted to advert to another fact which 
transpired, — an important fact, material for the nation to 
know, and which I have often regretted had not been spread 



62 ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 

upon our journals. My honourable colleague (Mr. M'Kee,) 
moved, in committee of the whole, to comprehend France 
in the war; and when the question was taken upon the pro- 
position, there appeared but ten votes in support of it, of 
whom, seven belonged to this side of the House, and three 
only to the other! It is said that we were inveigled into the 
war by the perfidy of France; and that had she furnished 
the document in time, which was first published in England, 
in May last, it would have been prevented. I vyill concede 
to gentlemen every thing they ask about the injustice of 
France towards this country. I wish to God that our ability 
was equal to our disposition, to make her feel the sense 
that we entertain of that injustice. The manner of the pub- 
lication of the paper in question, was undoubtedly extreme- 
ly exceptionable. But I maintain that, had it made its ap- 
pearance earlier, it would not have had the effect supposed; 
and the proof lies in the unequivocal declarations of the 
British government. I will trouble you, sir, with going no 
further back than to the letters of the British minister, ad- 
dressed to the secretary of state, just before the expiration 
of his diplomatic functions. It will be recollected by the 
committee that he exhibited to this government a despatch 
from lord Castlereagh, in which the principle was distinctly 
avowed, that to produce the effect of a repeal of the orders 
in council, the French decrees must be absolutely and en- 
tirely revoked as to all the world, and not as to America 
alone. A copy of that despatch was demanded of him, and 
he very awkwardly evaded it. But on the tenth June, after 
the bill declaring war had actually passed this house, and 
was pending before the Senate, (and which, I have no doubt, 
was known to him,) in a letter to Mr. Monroe, he says: " I 
have no hesitation, sir, in saying that Great Britain, as the 
case has hitherto stood, never did, nor ever could engage, 
without the greatest injustice to herself and her allies, as 
well as to other neutral nations, to repeal her orders as af- 
fecting America alone, leaving them in force against other 
states, upon condition that France would except singly and 
specially, America from the operation of her decrees." On 
the fourteenth of the same month, the bill still pending before 
the Senate, he repeats: " I will now say, that I feel entirely 
authorized to assure you, that if you can at any time pro- 
duce ^ Jiiil and unconditional repcAi of the French decrees, 
as you have a right to demand it in your character of a 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 63 

neutral nation, and that it be disengaged from any question 
concerning our maritime rights, we shall be ready to meet 
you with a revocation of the orders in council. Previously 
to your producing such an instrument, which I am sorry to 
see >ou regard as unnecessary, you cannot expect of us to 
give up our orders in council." Thus, sir, you see that the 
British government, would not be content with a repeal of 
the French decrees as to us only. But the French paper in 
question was such a repeal. It could not, therefore, satisfy 
the British government. It could not, therefore, have in- 
duced that government, had it been earlier promulgated, 
to repeal the orders in council. It could not, therefore, 
have averted the war. The withholding of it did not occa- 
sion the war, and the promulgation of it would not have 
prevented the war. But gentlemen have contended that, in 
point of fact, it did produce a repeal of the orders in coun- 
cil. This I deny. After it made its appearance in England, 
it was declared by one of the British ministry, in parlia- 
ment, not to be satisfactory. And all the world knows, that 
the repeal of the orders in council resulted from the in- 
quiry, reluctantly acceded to by the ministry, into the effect 
upon their manufacturing establishments, of our non-im- 
portation law, or to the warlike attitude assumed by this 
government, or to both. But it is said, that the orders in 
council are withdrawn, no matter from what cause; and 
that having been the sole motive for declaring the war, the 
relations of peace ought to be restored. This brings me to 
the examination of the grounds for continuing the present 
hostilities between this country and Great Britain. 

1 am far from acknowledging that, had the orders in 
council been repealed, as they have been, before the war 
was declared, the declaration of hostilities would of course 
have been prevented. In a body so numerous as this is, 
from which the declaration emanated, it is impossible to 
say, with any degree of certainty, what would have been 
the eifect of such a repeal. Each member must answer for 
himself. As to myself I have no hesitation, in saying, that 
I have always considered the impressment of American 
seamen, as much the most serious aggression. But, sir, 
how have those orders at last been repealed? Great Britain, 
it is true, has intimated a willingness to suspend their prac- 
tical operation, but she still arrogates to herself the right to 
revive them upon certain contingencies, of which she con- 



64 ON THE NEW ARM5f BILL. 

stitutes herself the sole judge. She waves the temporary 
use of the rod, but she suspends it in terrorem over our 
heads. Supposing it to be conceded to gentlemen that such 
a repeal of the orders in council, as took place on the twenty- 
third June last, exceptionable as it is, being known before the 
war was proclaimed, would have prevented it: does it follow 
that it ought to induce us to lay down our arms, without 
the redress of any other injury of which we complain? Does 
it follow, in all cases, that that which would in the first in- 
stance have prevented would also terminate the war? By 
no means. It requires a strong and powerful effort in a na- 
tion, prone to peace as this is, to burst through its habits 
and encounter the difficulties and privations of war. Such 
a nation ought but seldom to embark in a belligerent con- 
test; but when it does, it should be for obvious and essential 
rights alone, and should firmly resolve to extort, at all ha- 
zards, their recognition. The war of the revolution is an 
example of a war begun for one object and prosecuted for 
another. It was waged, in its commencement, against the 
right asserted by the parent country to tax the colonies. 
Then no one thought of absolute independence. The idea 
of independence was repelled. But the British government 
would have relinquished the principle of taxation. The 
founders of our liberties saw, however, that there was no 
security short of independence, and they achieved that in- 
dependence. When nations are engaged in war, those rights 
in controversy, which are not acknowledged by the treaty 
of peace, are abandoned. And who is prepared to say, that 
American seamen shall be surrendered, as victims to the 
British principle of impressment? And, sir, what is this 
principle? She contends that she has a right to the services 
of her own subjects; and that, in the exercise of this right, 
she may lawfully impress them, even although she finds 
them in American vessels, upop the high seas, without her 
jurisdiction. Now, I deny that she has any right, beyond 
her jurisdiction, to come on board our vessels, upon the 
high seas, for any other purpose than in the pursuit of ene- 
mies, or their goods, or goods contraband of war. But she 
further contends, that her subjects cannot renounce their 
allegiance lo her, and contract a new obligation to other 
sovereigns. I do not mean to go into the general question 
of the right of expatriation. If, as is contended, all nations 
deny it, all nations at the same time admit and practice the 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 65 

right of naturalization. Great Britain herself does this. 
Great Britain, in the very case of foreign seamen, imposes, 
perhaps, fewer restraints upon naturalization than any other 
nation. Then, if subjects cannot break their original alle- 
giance, they may, according to universal usage, contract a 
new allegiance. What is the effect of this double obligation? 
Undoubtedly, that the sovereign having the possession of 
the subject, would have the right to the services of the sub- 
ject. If he return within the jurisdiction of his primitive 
sovereign, he may resume his right to his services, of which 
the subject, by his own act, could not devest himself. But 
his primitive sovereign can have no right to go in quest of 
him, out of his own jurisdiction, into the jurisdiction of 
another sovereign, or upon the high seas, where there exists 
either no jurisdiction, or it is possessed by the nation own- 
ing the ship navigating them. But, sir, this discussion is 
altogether useless. It is not to the British principle, objec- 
tionable as it is, that we are alone to look, — it is to her 
practice, — no matter what guise she puts on. It is in vain 
to assert the inviolability of the obligation of allegiance. It 
is in vain to set up the plea of necessity, and to allege that 
she cannot exist, without the impressment of HER seamen. 
The naked truth is, she comes, by her press gangs, on 
board of our vessels, seizes OUR native as well as natu- 
ralized seamen, and drags them into her service. It is the 
case, then, of the assertion of an erroneous principle, — and 
of a practice not conformable to the asserted principle, — a 
principle which, if it were theoretically right, must be for- 
ever practically wrong, — a practice which can obtain coun- 
tenance from no principle whatever, and to submit to which, 
on our part, would betray the most abject degradation. We 
are told, by gentlemen in the opposition, that government 
has not done all that was incumbent on it to do, to avoid 
just cause of complaint on the part of Great Britain, — that, 
in particular, the certificates of protection, authorized by 
the act of 1796, are fraudulently used. Sir, government has 
done too much in granting those paper protections. I can 
never think of them without being shocked. They resemble 
the passes which the master grants to his negro slave, " let 
the bearer, Mungo, pass and repass without molestation." 
What do they imply? That Great Britain has a right to 
seize all who are not provided with them. From their very- 
nature they must be liable to abuse on both sides. If Great 
K 



66 ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 

Britain desires a mark by which she can know her own 
subjects, let her give them an ear mark. The colours that 
float from the mast head should be the credentials of our 
seamen. There is no safety to us, and the gentlemen have 
shown it, but in the rule that all who sail under the flag, 
(not being enemies.) are protected by the flag. It is im- 
possible that this country should ever abandon the gallant 
tars, who' have won for us such splendid trophies. Let me 
suppose that the genius of Columbia should visit one of 
them in his oppressor's prison, and attempt to reconcile him 
to his forlorn and wretched condition. She would say to 
him, in the language of gentlemen on the other side: " Great 
Britain intends you no harm; she did not mean to impress 
you, but one of her own subjects; having taken you by mis- 
take, I will remonstrate, and try to prevail upon her, by 
peaceable means, to release you, but I cannot, my son, fight 
for you." If he did not consider this mere mockery, the 
poor tar would address her judgment and say, ' you owe 
me, my country, protection; I owe you, in return, obedience, 
I am no British subject, I am a native of old Massachu- 
setts, where live my aged father, my wife, my children. I 
have faithfully discharged my duty. Will you refuse to do 
yours?' Appealing to her passions, he would continue: ' I 
lost this eye in fighting under Truxtun, with the Insurgentej 
I got this scar before Tripoli; I broke this leg on board the 
Constitution, when the Guerriere struck.' If she remained 
still unmoved, he would break out, in the accents of mingled 
distress and dispair. 

Hard, hard is my fate! once I freedom enjoyed, 

Was as happy as happy could be! 

Oh! how hard is my fate, how galling these chains! * 

I will not imagine the dreadful catastrophe to which he 
would be driven, by an abandonment of him to his oppressor. 
It will not be, it cannot be, that his country will refuse him 
protection. 

It is said, that Great Britain has been always willing to 
make a satisfactory arrangement of the subject of impress- 

* It is impossible to describe the pathetic effect pro<iuced by this part 
of the speech. The day was chilling cold, so nruch so, that Mr. C. has 
been heard to declare, that it was the only time he ever spoke, when be 
was unable to keep himself warm by the exercise of speaking, yet there 
were few eyes that did not testify to the sensibility excited.— Editor. 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 67 

ment; and that Mr. King had nearly concluded one, prior to 
his departure from that country. Let us hear what that 
minister says, upon his return to America. In his letter 
dated at New York in July, 1803, after giving an account of 
his attempt to form an arrangement for the protection of 
our seamen, and his interviews to this end with lords 
Hawkesbury and St, Vincent; and stating that, when he had 
supposed the terms of a convention were agreed upon, a new 
pretension was set up, (the mare clausum^ he concludes: " I 
regret not to have been able to put this business on a satis- 
factory footing, knowing as I do its very great importance 
to both parties; but 1 flatter myself that I have not misjudg- 
ed the interests of our own country, in refusing to sanction 
a principle, that might be productive of more extensive evils 
than those it was our aim to prevent." The sequel of his 
negociation, on this affair, is more fully given in the recent 
conversation between Mr. Russell and lord Castlereagh, 
communicated to congress during its present session. Lord 
Castlereagh says to Mr. Russel: — 

* Indeed there has evidently been much misapprehension 
on this subject, an erroneous belief entertained that an ar- 
rangement, in regard to it, has been nearer an accomplish- 
ment than the facts will warrant. Even our friends in con- 
gress, I mean those who are opposed to going to war with 
us, have been so confident in this mistake, that they have 
ascribed the failure of such an arrangement, solely to the 
misconduct of the American government. This error pro- 
bably originated with Mr. King, for being much esteemed 
here, and always well received by the persons in power, he 
seems to have misconstrued their readiness to listen to his 
representations, and their warm professions of a disposition 
to remove the complaints of America, in relation to impress- 
ment, into a supposed conviction on their part, of the pro- 
priety of adopting the plan which he had proposed. But lord 
St. Vincent, whom he might have thought he had brought 
over to his opinions, appears never for a moment to have 
ceased to regard all arrangement on the subject, to be at- 
tended with formidable, if not insurmountable obstacles. 
This is obvious from a letter which his lordship addressed 
to sir William Scott at the time.' Here lord Castlereagh 
read a letter, contained in the records before him, in which 
lord St. Vincent states to sir Wm. Scott the zeal with which 
Mr. King had assailed him on the subject of impressment, 



68 ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 

confesses his own perplexity, and total incompetency to dis- 
cover any practical project for the safe discontinuance of 
that practice, and asks for council and advice. ' Thus you 
see,' proceeded lord Castlereagh, ' that the confidence of 
Mr. King on this subject was entirely unfounded.' 

Thus it is apparent, that, at no time, has the enemy been 
willing to place this subject on a satisfactory footing. I will 
speak hereafter of the overtures made by administration 
since the war. 

The honourable gentleman from New York (Mr. Blea- 
ker,) in the very sensible speech with which he favoured 
the committee, made one observation which did not comport 
with his usual liberal and enlarged views. It was that those 
who are most interested against the practice of impressment, 
did not desire a continuance of the war on account of it, 
whilst those (the southern and western members,) who had 
no interest in it, were the zealous advocates of American 
seamen. It was a provincial sentiment unworthy of that 
gentleman. It was one which, in a change of condition, he 
would not express, because I know he could not feel it. 
Does not that gentleman feel for the unhappy victims of 
the tomahawk in the western wilds, although his quarter of 
the union may be exempted from similar barbarities? I am 
sure he does. If there be a description of rights which, 
more than any other, should unite all parties in all quarters 
of the union, it is unquestionably the rights of the person. 
No matter what his vocation; whether he seeks subsistence 
amidst the dangers of the deep, or draws them from the 
bowels of the earth, or from the humblest occupations of 
mechanic life: whenever the sacred rights of an American 
freeman are assailed, all hearts ought to unite and every 
arm should be braced to vindicate his cause. 

The gentleman from Delaware sees in Canada no object 
worthy of conquest. According to him, it is a cold, sterile 
and inhospitable region. And yet, such are the allurements 
which it offers, that the same gentleman apprehends that, if 
it be annexed to the United Stales, already too much weak- 
ened by an extension of territory, the people of New En- 
gland will rush over the line and depopulate that section of 
the union! That gentleman considers it honest to hold Cana- 
da as a kind of hostage; to regard it as a sort of bond for 
the good behaviour of the enemy. But he will not inforce 
the bond. The actual conquest of that country would, ac- 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. m 

cording to him, make no impression upon the enemy, and 
yet the very apprehension only of such a conquest would 
at all times have a powerful operation upon him! Other 
gentlemen consider the invasion of that country as wicked 
and unjustifiable. Its inhabitants are represented as harm- 
less and unoffending, as connected with those of the border- 
ing states by a thousand tender ties, interchanging acts of 
kindness, and all the offices of good neighbourhood: Canada, 
said Mr. Clay, innocent! Canada unoffending! Is it not in 
Canada that the tomahawk of the savage has been moulded 
into its deathlike form? Has it not been from Canadian 
magazines, Maiden and others, that those supplies have 
been issued which nourish and continue the Indian hostili- 
ties? Supplies which have enabled the savage hordes to 
butcher the garrison of Chicago, and to commit other hor- 
rible excesses and murders? Was it not by the joint co- 
operation of Canadians and Indians that a remote American 
fort, Michilimackinac, was assailed and reduced, while in 
ignorance of a state of war? But, sir, how soon have the 
opposition changed their tone. When administration was 
striving, by the operation of peaceful measures, to bring 
Great Britain back to a sense of justice, they were for old 
fashioned war. And now they have got old fashioned war, 
their sensibilities are cruelly shocked, and all their sympa- 
thies lavished upon the harmless inhabitants of the adjoin- 
ing provinces. What does a state of war present? The uni- 
ted energies of one people arrayed against the combined 
energies of another, — a conflict in which each party aims 
to inflict all the injury it can, by sea and land, upon the ter- 
ritories, property and citizens of the other, subject only to 
the rules of mitigated war practised by civilized nations. 
The gentleman would not touch the continental provinces 
of the enemy, nor, I presume, for the same reason, her pos- 
sessions in the West Indies. The same humane spirit v/ould 
spare the seamen and soldiers of the enemy. The sacred 
person of his majesty must not be attacked, for the learned 
gentlemen, on the other side, are quite familiar with the 
maxim, that the king can do no wrong. Indeed, sir, I know 
of no person on whom we may make war upon the principles 
of the honourable gentlemen, but Mr. Stephen, the cele- 
brated author of the orders in council, or the board of ad- 
miralty, who authorize and regulate the practice of impress-^ 
ment! 



70 ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 

The disasters of the war admonish us, we are told, of 
the necessity of terminating the contest. If our achievements 
by land have been less splendid than those of our intrepid 
seamen by water, it is not because the American soldier is 
less brave. On the one element organization, discipline, and 
a thorough knowledge of their duties exist, on the part of 
the officers and their men. On the other almost every thing 
is yet to be acquired. We have however the consolation 
that our country abounds with the richest materials, and 
that in no instance when engaged in action have our arms 
been tarnished. At Brownstown and at Queenstown the 
valour of veterans was displayed, and acts of the noblest 
heroism were performed. It is true, that the disgrace of 
Detroit remains to be wiped off. That is a subject on which 
I cannot trust my feelings, it is not fitting I should speak. 
But this much I will say, it was an event which no human 
foresight could have anticipated, and for which the adminis- 
tration cannot be justly censured. It was the parent of all the 
misfortunes we have experienced on land. But for it the 
Indian war would have been in a great measure prevented 
or terminated; the ascendancy on lake Erie acquired, and 
the war pushed on perhaps to Montreal. With the excep- 
tion of that event, the war, even upon the land, has been 
attended by a series of the most brilliant exploits, which, 
whatever interest they may inspire on this side of the moun- 
tains, have given the greatest pleasure on the other. The 
expedition under the command of governor Edwards and 
colonel Russel, to lake Pioria on the Illinois, was complete- 
ly successful. So was that of captain Craig, who it is said 
ascended that river still higher. General Hopkins destroyed 
the prophet's town. We have just received intelligence of 
the gallant enterprize of colonel Campbell. In short, sir, 
the Indian towns have been swept from the meuth to the 
source of the Wabash, and a hostile country has been pene- 
trated far beyond the most daring incursions of any cam- 
paign during the former Indian war. Never was more cool 
deliberate bravery displayed than that by Newman's party 
from Georgia. And the capture of the Detroit, and the 
destruction of the Caledonia, (whether placed to a maritime 
or land account,) for judgment, skill, and courage on the 
part of lieutenant Elliot, have never been surpassed. 

It is alleged that the elections in England are in favour 
of the ministry, and that those in this country are against 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL, n 

the war. If in such a cause (saying nothing of the impurity 
of their elections,) the people of that country have rallied 
round their government, it affords a salutary lesson to the 
people here, who at all hazards ought to support theirs, 
struggling as it is to maintain our just lights. But the peo- 
ple here have not been false to themselves; a great majority 
approve the war, as is evinced by the recent re-election of 
the chief magistrate. Suppose it were even true, that an 
entire section of the union, were opposed to the war, that 
section being a minority, is the will of the majority to be 
relinquished? In that section the real strength of the oppo- 
sition had been greatly exaggerated. Vermont has, by two 
successive expressions of her opinion, approved the decla- 
ration of war. In New Hampshire, parties are so nearly 
equipoised that out of thirty or thirty-five thousand votes, 
those, who approved and are for supporting it, lost the elec- 
tion by only one thousand or one thousand five hundred. 
In Massachusetts alone have they obtained any considerable 
accession. If we come to New York, we shall find that other 
and local causes have influenced her elections. 

What cause, Mr. Chairman, which existed for declaring 
the war has been removed? We sought indemnity for the 
past and security for the future. The orders in council are 
suspended, not revoked; no compensation for spoliations. 
Indian hostilities, which were before secretly instigated, 
are now openly encouraged; and the practice of impressment 
unremittingly persevered in and insisted upon. Yet admini- 
stration has given the strongest demonstrations of its love 
of peace. On the twenty-ninth June, less than ten days 
after the declaration of war, the secretary of state writes to 
Mr. Russell, authorizing him to agree to an armistice, upon 
two conditions only, and what are they? That the orders in 
council should be repealed, and the practice of impressing 
American seamen cease, those already impressed being re- 
leased. The proposition was for nothing more than a real 
truce; that the war should in fact cease on both sides. Again, 
on the twenty-seventh of July, one month later, anticipating 
a possible objection to these terms, reasonable as they are, 
Mr. Monroe empowers Mr. Russell to stipulate in general 
terms for an armistice, having only an informal understand- 
ing on these points. In return, the enemy is offered a pro- 
hibition of the employment of his seamen in our service, 
thus removing entirely all pretext for the practice of im- 



72 ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 

pressment. The very proposition which the gentleman from 
Connecticut (Mr. Pitkin,) contends ought to be made, has 
been made. How are these pacific advances met by the other 
party? Rejected as absolutely inadmissible; cavils are in- 
dulged about the inadequacy of Mr. Russell's powers, and 
the want of an act of congress is intimated. And yet the 
constant usage of nations I believe is, where the legislation 
of one party is necessary to carry into effect a given stipula- 
tion, to leave it to the contracting party to provide the re- 
quisite laws. If he fail to do so, it is a breach of good faith, 
and becomes the subject of subsequent remonstrance by the 
injured party. When Mr. Russell renews the overture, in what 
was intended as a more agreeable form to the British go- 
vernment, lord Castlereagh is not content with a simple re- 
jection, but clothes it in the language of insult. Afterwards, 
in conversation with Mr. Russell, the moderation of our 
government is misinterpreted and made the occasion of a 
sneer, that we are tired of the war. The proposition of ad- 
miral Warren is submitted in a spirit not more pacific. He 
is instructed, he tells us, to propose that the government of 
the United States shall instantly recal their letters of marque 
and reprisal against British ships, together with all orders 
and instructions for any acts of hostility whatever against 
the territories of his majesty or the persons or property of 
his subjects. That small affair being settled, he is further 
authorized to arrange as to the revocation of the laws which 
interdict the commerce and ships of war of his majesty 
from the harbours and waters of the United States. This 
messenger of peace comes with one qualified concession in 
his pocket, not made to the justice of our demands, and is 
fully empowered to receive our homage, a contrite retrac- 
tion of all our measures adopted against his master! And 
in default, he does not fail to assure us, the orders in coun- 
cil are to be forthwith revived. Administration, still anxious 
to terminate the war, suppresses the indignation which such 
a proposal ought to have created, and in its answer concludes 
by informing admiral Warren, " that if there be no objec- 
tion to an accommodation of the difference relating to im- 
pressment, in the mode proposed, other than the suspension 
of the British claim to impressment during the armistice, 
there can be none to proceeding without the armistice, to 
an immediate discussion and arrangement of an article on 
that subject." Thus it has left the door of negociation un- 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 73 

closed, and it remains to be seen if the enemy will accept 
the invitation tendered to him. The honourable gentleman 
from North Carolina (Mr. Pearson,) supposes, that if con- 
gress would pass a law, prohibiting the employment of Bri- 
tish seamen in our service, upon condition of a like prohi- 
bition on their part, and repeal the act of non-importation, 
peace would immediately follow. Sir, I have no doubt if 
such a law were to pass, with all the requisite solemnities, and 
the repeal to take place, lord Castlereagh would laugh at 
our simplicity. No, sir, administration has erred in the steps 
which it has taken to restore peace, but its error has been 
not in doing too little, but in betraying too great a solicitude 
for that event. An honourable peace is attainable only by 
an efficient war. My plan would be to call out the ample 
resources of the country, give them a judicious direction, 
prosecute the war with the utmost vigour, strike wherever 
we can reach the enemy, at sea or on land, and negociate 
the terms of a peace at Quebec or at Halifax. We are told 
that England is a proud and lofty nation, which disdaining to 
wait for danger, meets it half way. Haughty as she is, we 
once triumphed over her, and, if we do not listen to the 
councils of timidity and despair, we shall again prevail. In 
such a cause, with the aid of Providence, we must come 
out crowned with success; but if we fail, let us fail like men, 
lash ourselves to our gallant tars, and expire together in 
one common struggle, fighting for free trade and sea- 
man's RIGHTS. 



74 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 

Speech of Mr. Clay on his proposition to make an appropri- 
ation for the outfit^ and one year''s salary for a minister 
to Buenos Ay res; delivered March 24, 1818. 

The house being in committee of the whole, on the bill 
making appropriation for the support of government for the 
year 1818, 

Mr. Clay rose, under feelings of deeper regret than he 
had ever experienced on any former occasion, inspired, prin- 
cipally, by the painful consideration that he found himself 
on the proposition which he meant to submit, differing from 
many highly esteemed friends, in and out of this house, for 
whose judgment he entertained the greatest respect. A 
knowledge of this circumstance had induced him to pausej 
to subject his own convictions to the severest scrutiny; and 
to revolve the question over and over again. But all his re- 
flections had conducted him to the same clear result; and 
much as he valued those friends, great as his deference was 
for their opinions, he could not hesitate, when reduced to 
the distressing alternative of conforming his judgment to 
theirs, or pursuing the deliberate and matured dictates of 
his own mind. He enjoyed some consolation, for the want 
of their co-operation, from the persuasion that, if he erred 
on this occasion, he erred on the side of the liberty and hap- 
piness of a large portion of the human family. Another, and, 
if possible, indeed a greater source of the regret to which 
lie referred, was the utter incompetency, which he unfeign- 
edly felt, to do any thing like adequate justice to the great 
cause of American independence and freedom, whose inter- 
ests he wished to promote by his humble exertions, in this 
instance. Exhausted and worn down as he was, by the fa- 
tigue, confinement and incessant application incident to the 
arduous duties of the honourable station he held, during a 
four month's session, he should need all that kind of indul- 
gence which had been so often extended to him by the 
house. 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 75 

He begged, in the first place, to correct misconceptions, 
if any existed, in regard to his opinions. He was averse 
from war with Spain, or with any power. He would give 
no just cause of war to any power — not to Spain herself. 
He had seen enough of war, and of its calamities, even 
when successful. No country upon earth had more interest 
than this in cultivating peace, and avoiding war, as long as 
it was possible honourably to avoid it. Gaining additional 
strength every day; our numbers doubling in periods of 
twenty-five years; with an income outstripping all our esti- 
mates, and so great as, after a war in some respects disas- 
trous, to furnish results which carry astonishment, if not 
dismay, into the bosom of states jealous of our rising im- 
portance, we had every motive for the love of peace. He 
could not however, approve, in all respects, of the manner 
in which our negociations with Spain had been conducted. 
If ever a favourable time existed for the demand, on the 
part of an injured nation, of indemnity for past wrongs, 
from the aggressor, such was the present time. Impoverish- 
ed and exhausted at home, by the wars which have desola- 
ted the peninsula, with a foreign war, calling for infinitely 
more resources in men and money, than she can possibly 
command, this is the auspicious period for insisting upon 
justice at her hands, in a firm and decided tone. Time is 
precisely what Spain now most wants. Yet what are we told 
by the president in his message, at the commencement of 
congress? That Spain had procrastinated, and we acquiesc- 
ed in her procrastination. And the secretary of state, in a 
late communication with Mr. Onis, after ably vindicating 
all out rights, tells the Spanish minister, with a good deal 
of sang froid, that we had patiently waited thirteen years 
for a redress of our injuries, and that it required no great 
effort to wait longer! He would have abstained from thus / 
exposing our intentions. Avoiding the use of the language ' 
of menace, he would have required, in temperate and deci- jf 
ded terms, indemnity for all our wrongs; for the spoliations/ 
of our commerce; for the interruption of the right of de- I 
pot at New Orleans, guaranteed by treaty; for the insults f. 
repeatedly offered to our flag; for the Indian hostilities 
which she was bound to prevent; for belligerent use made 
of her ports and territories by our enemy during the late 
war — and the instantaneous liberation of the free citi zen ^ 
of the United States now imprisoned in her jails. XontenT 



76 ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 

poraneous with that demand, without waiting for her final 
answer, and with a view to the favorable operation on her 
councils, in regard to our own peculiar interests, as well as 
in justice to the cause itself, he would recognize any es- 
tablished government in Spanish America. He would have 
leli Spain to draw her own inferences from these proceed- 
ings, as to the ultimate step which this country might adopt, 
if she longer withheld justice from us. And if she perse- 
vered in her iniquity, after we had conducted the negocia- 
tion in the manner he had endeavoured to describe, he would 
then take up and decide the solemn question of peace or 
war, with the advantage of all the light shed upon it by sub- 
sequent events and the probable conduct of Europe. 

Spain had undoubtedly given us abundant and just cause 
of war. But, it was not every cause of war, that should 
lead to war. War was one of those dreadful scourges that 
so shakes the foundations of society; overturns or changes 
the character of governments; interrupts or destroys the 
pursuits of private happiness; brings, in short, misery and 
wretchedness in so many forms; and at last is, in its issue, 
so doubtful and hazardous, thatnothing but dire necessity can 
justify an appeal to arms. If we were to have war with Spain, 
he had, however, no hesitation in saying, that no mode of 
bringing it about could be less fortunate than that of seizing, 
at this time, upon her adjoining province. There was a time 
unaer certain circumstances when we might have occupied 
East Florida, with safety: had we then taken it, our posture 
in the negociation with Spain would have been totally differ- 
ent from what it is. But, we had permitted that time, not with 
his consent, to pass by unimproved. If we were now to 
seize upon Florida, after a great change in those circum- 
stances, and after declaring our intention to acquiesce in the 
procrastination desired by Spain, in what light should we 
be viewed by foreign powers, particularly Great Britain? 
We have already been accused of inordinate ambition, and 
of seeking to aggrandize ourselves by an extension, on all 
k sides, of our limits. Should we not, by such an act of vi- 
olence, give color to the accusation? No, Mr. Chairman, 
if we are to be involved in war with Spain, let us have the 
credit of disinterestedness; let us put her yet more in the 
wrong. Let us command the respect which is never with- 
held from those who act a nobie and generous part. He 
hoped to communicate to the committee the conviction which 



ON THE EMANCrPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 77 

he so strongly felt, that, adopting the amendment which he 
intended to propose, would not hazard in the slightest de- 
gree, the peace of the country. /^But if that peace were to 
be endangered, he would infinitely rather it should be for 
our exerting the right appertaining to every state, of ac- 
knowledging the independence of another state, than for 
the seizure of a province which sooner or later we must 
certainly acquire. 

Mr. Clay proceeded. In contemplating the great struggle 
in which Spanish America is now engaged, our attention is 
first fixed by the immensity and character of the country 
which Spain seeks again to subjugate. Stretching on the Pa- 
cific Ocean from about the 40th degree of north latitude, 
to about the 55th degree of south latitude, and extending 
from the mouth of the Rio del Norde (exclusive of East 
Florida) around the gulf of Mexico and along the South 
Atlantic to near Cape Horn, it is about 5000 miles in length, 
and in some places near 3000 in breadth. Within this vast 
region, we behold the most sublime and interesting objects 
of creation; the loftiest mountains, the most majestic rivers 
in the world; the richest mines of the precious metals; and 
the choicest productions of the earth. We behold there a 
spectacle still more interesting and sublime — the glorious 
spectacle of eighteen millions of people, struggling to burst 
their chains and to be free. When we take a little nearer 
and more detailed view, we perceive that nature has, as it 
were, ordained that this people and this country shall ulti- 
mately constitute several different nations. Leaving the 
United States on the north, we come to New Spain, or the 
vice royalty of Mexico on the south; passing by Guatame- 
la, we reach the vice-royalty of New Grenada, the late cap- 
tain generalship of Venezuela, and Guyana lying on the east 
side of the Andes, Stepping over the Brazils, we arrive 
at the united provinces of La Plata, and, crossing the An- 
des, we find Chili on their west side, and further north, the 
vice royalty of Lima or Peru. Each of these several parts 
is sufficient in itself, in point of limits, to constitute a pow- 
erful state, and, in point of population, that which has the 
smallest contains enough to make it respectable. Through- 
out all the extent of that great portion of the world, which 
he had attempted thus hastily to describe, the spirit of re- 
volt against the dominion of Spain, had manifested itself. 
The revolution had been attended with various degrees of 



78 ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA 

success in the several parts of Spanish America. In some 
it had been already crowned, as he would endeavour to show, 
with complete success, and in all he was persuaded that in- 
dependence had struck such deep root as that the power of 
Spam could never eradicate it. What were the causes of this 
great movementf 

Three hundred years ago, upon the ruins of the thrones 
of Montezuma and the Incas of Peru, Spain erected the 
most stupendous system of colonial despotism that the world 
has ever seen — the most vigorous, the most exclusive. The 
great principle and object of this system, has been to ren- 
der otie of the largest portions of the world exclusively 
subservient, in all its faculties, to the interests of an incon- 
siderable spot in Europe. To effectuate this aim of her 
policy, she locked up Spanish America from all the rest of 
the world, and prohibited, under the severest penalties, any 
foreigner from entering any part of it. To keep the natives 
themselves ignorant of each other, and of the strength and 
resources of the several parts of her American possessions, 
she next prohibited the inhabitants of one vice-royalty or 
government from visiting those of another; so, that the in- 
habitants of Mexico, for example, were not allowed to enter 
the vice royalty of New Grenada. The agiicullure of those 
vast regions was so regulated and restrained, as to prevent 
all collision with the interests of the agriculture of the pe- 
ninsula. Where nature, by the character and composition 
of the soil, had commanded, the abominable system of Spain 
has forbidden, the growth of certain articles. Thus the olive 
and the vine, to which Spanish America is so well adapted, 
are prohibited, wherever their culture could interfere with 
the olive and the vine of the peninsula. The commerce of 
the country, in the direction and objects of the exports and 
imports, is also subjected to the narrow and selfish views 
of Spain — and fettered by the odious spirit of monopoly 
existing in Cadiz. She has sought, by scattering discord 
among the several casts of her American population, and 
by a debasing course of education, to perpetuate her op- 
pression. Whatever concerns public law, or the science of 
government, all writers upon political economy, or that tend 
to give vigour and freedom and expansion to the intellect, 
are prohibited. Gentlemen would be astonished by the long 
list of distinguished authors, whom she proscribes, to be 
found in Depon's and other works. A main feature in her 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 79 

policy, is that which constantly elevates the European and 
depresses the American character. Out of upwards of sev- 
en hundred and fifty viceroys and captains general, whom 
she has appointed since the conquest of America, about 
eighteen only have been from the body of the American 
population. On all occasions, she seeks to raise and pro- 
mote her European subjects, and to degrade and humiliate 
the Creoles. Wherever in America her sway extends, every- 
thing seems to pine and wither beneath its baneful influence. 
The richest regions of the earth; man, his happiness and 
his education, all the fine faculties of his soul, are regulat- 
ed and modified and moulded to suit the execrable purposes 
of an inexorable despotism. ' 

Such is a brief and imperfect picture of the state of things 
in Spanish America in 1808, when the famous transactions 
of Bayonne occurred. The king of Spain and the Indies, 
(for Spanish America had always constituted an integral 
part of the Spanish empire) abdicated his throne and be- 
came a voluntary captive. Even at this day, one does not 
know whether he should most condemn the baseness and 
, perfidy of the one party, or despise the meanness and imbe- 
jcility of the other. If the obligation of obedience and al- 
llegiance existed on the part of the colonies to the king of 
/ Spain, it v^as founded on the duty of protection which he 
I owed them./ By disqualifying himself from the perform- 
I ance of this duty, they became released from that obliga- 
tion. / The monarchy was dissolved; and each integral part 
had a right to seek its own happiness, by the institution of 
any new government adapted to its wants. Joseph Bona- 
parte, the successor de facto of Ferdinand, recognized this 
right on the part of the colonies, and recommended them to 
establish their independence. Thus, upon the ground of 
strict right; upon the footing of a mere legal question, gov- 
erned by forensic rules, the colonies, being absolved by the 
acts of the parent country from the duty of subjection to 
it, had an indisputable right to set up for themselves. Buti 
Mr. Clay took a broader and bolder position. He main-/ 
tained, that an oppressed people were authorized, whenevei| 
they could, to rise and break their fetters. This was the 
great principle d£ the English revolution. It was the great' 
{ principle of cui^wn. Vattel, if authority were wanting, 
' expressly suppo?^' this right. We must pass sentence of 
condemnation upon the founders of our liberty — say that 






so ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 

, they were rebels — traitors, and that we are at this moment 
/ legislating without competent powers, before we could con- 
/ demn the cause of Spanish America. Our revolution was 
/ mainly directed against the mere theory of tyranny. We 
' had suffered comparatively but little; we had, in some re- 
spects, been kindly treated; but our intrepid and intelligent 
fathers saw, in the usurpation of the power to levy an in- 
considerable tax, the long train of oppressive acts that were 
to follow. They rose; they breasted the storm; they con- 
quered our freedom. Spanish America for centuries has 
been doomed to the practical effects of an odious tyranny. 
If we were justified, she is more than justified 

Mr. Clay said he was no propagandist.v"lfle would not 
seek to force upon other nations our principles and our lib- 
erty, if they did not want them. He would not disturb the 
repose even of a detestable despotism. But, if an abused 
and oppressed people willed their freedom; if they sought 
to establish it; if, in truth, they had established it, we had 
a right, as a sovereign power, to notice the tact, and to act 
as circumstances and our interest required. He would say, 
in the language of the venerated father of his country, 
" Born in a land of liberty, my anxious recollections, my 
sympathetic feelings, and my best wishes, are irresistibly 
excited, whensoever, in any country, I see an oppressed na- 
tion unfurl the banners of freedom.'* For his own part, Mr. 
Clay said, that whenever he thouglit of Spanish America, 
the image irresistibly forced itself upon his mind of an el- 
der brother, whose education had been neglected, whose 
person had been abused and maltreated, and who had been 
disinherited by the unkindness of an unnatural parent. And, 
when he contemplated the glorious struggle which that coun- 
try was now making, he thought he beheld that brother ris- 
ing, by the power and energy of his fine native genius, to 
the manly rank which nature, and nature's Gpd, intended 
for him. 

If Spanish America were entitled to success from the 
justness of her cause, we had no less reason to wish that 
success from the horrible character which' the royal arms 
have given to the war. More atrocitieSitBan those which 
had been perpetrated during its existen«|fc|ere not to be 
found even in the annals of Spain hgc^^^And history, 
reserving some of her blackest pages fl^^Vname of Mo- 
rillo, is prepared to place him along sid^m his great pro- 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF/SOUTH AMERICA. 81 

/■■■ 
totype, the infamous desolaterof the Netherlands. He who 

has looked into the history of the conduct of this war, is 
constantly shocked at the revolting scenes which it portrays; 
at the refusal, on the part of the commanders of the royal 
forces, to treat, on any terms, with the other side; at the de- 
nial of quarters; at the butchery, in cold blood, of prison- 
ers; at the violation of flags, in some cases, after being re- 
ceived with religious ceremonies; at the instigation of slaves 
to rise against their owners; and at acts of wanton and use- 
less barbarity. Neither the weakness of the other sex, nor 
the imbecility of old age, nor the innocence of infants, nor 
the reverence due to the sacerdotal character, can stay the 
arm of royal vengeance. On this subject he begged leave 
to trouble the committee with reading a few passages from 
^ most authentic document, the manifesto of the congress 
of the united provinces of Rio de la Plata, published in 
October last. This was a paper of the highest authority; it 
was an appeal to the whole world; it asserted facts of noto- 
riet)?y in the face of the whole world. It was not to be cre- 
dited that the congress would come forward with a state- 
ment which was not true, when the means, if it were false, 
of exposing their fabrications, must be so abundant, and so 
easy to command. It was a document, in short, that stood 
upon the same footing of authority with our own papers, 
promulgated during the revolution by our congress. He 
would add, that many of the facts which it affirmed, were 
corroborated by most respectable historical testimony, which 
was in his own possession.* 

* The following are thfe passages read by Mr. C. 

" Memory shudders at the recital of the horrors that were then com- 
mitted by Goyeneche, in Cochabamba. Would to heaven it were possi- 
ble to blot from remembrance the name of that ungrateful and blood- 
thirsty American; who, on the day of his entry, ordered the virtuous gov- 
ernor and intendant, Antesana, to be shot; who, beholding from the bal- 
cony of his house that infamous murder, cried out with a ferocious voice, 
to the soldiers, that they naust not fire at the head, because he wanted it 
to be aflaxed to a pole; and who, after the head was taken off, ordered 
the cold corpse to be dragged through the streets; and, by a barbarous 
decree, placed the lives and fortunes of the citizens at the mercy of his 
unbridled soldiery, leaving them to exercise their licentious and brutal 
sway during several days! But those blind and cruelly capricious men, 
(theJSpaniards,) rejected the mediation of England, and despatched rigor- 
ous orders to all the generals, to aggravate the war, and to punish us with 
more severity. The scaffolds were every where multiplied, and inven- 
M 



82 ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 

In the establishment of the independence of Spanish 
America, the United States had the deepest interest. He 
had no hesitation in asserting his firm belief, that there was 
no question in the foreign policy of this country, which had 
ever arisen, or which he could conceive as ever occurring, 
in the decision of which we had so much at stake. This in- 

tion was racked to devise means for spreading murder, distress and con- 
sternation. 

" Thenceforth they made all possible efforts to spread division amongst 
us, to incite us to mutual extermination; they have slandered us with 
the most atrocious calumnies, accusing us of plotting the destruction of 
our holy religion, the abolition of all morality, and of introducing licen- 
tiousness of manners. They wage a religious war against us, contriving 
a thousand artifices to disturb and alarm the conciences of the people, 
making the Spauish bishops issue decrees of ecclesiastical condemnation, 
public excommunications, and disseminating, through the medium of 
some ignorant confessor, fanatical doctrines in the tribunal of penitence. 
By means of these religious discords they have divided families against 
themselves; they have caused disaffection between parents and children, 
they have dissolved the tender ties which unite man and wife; they have 
spread rancour and implacable hatred between brothers, most endeared, 
and they have presumed to throw all nature into discord. 

" They ha^'e adopted the system of murdering men indiscriminately, to 
diminish our numbers; and, on their entry into towns, they have swept off 
all, even the market people, leading them to the open squares, and there 
shooting them one by one. The cities of Chuquisaca and Cochabam- 
ba, have more than once been the theatres of these horrid slaughters. 

" They have intermixed with their troops soldiers of ours whom they 
bad taken prisoners, carrying away the officers in chains, to garrisons 
where it is impossible to preserve health for a year — they have left others 
to die in their prisons of hunger and misery, and others they have forced 
to bard labour on the public works. They have exultingly put to death 
our bearers of flags of truce, and have been guilty of the blackest atro- 
cities to our chiefs, after they had surrendered; as well as to other prin- 
cipal characters, in disregard of the humanity with which we treated 
prisoners; as a proof of it, witness the deputy Mutes of Potosi, the cap- 
tain general Pumacagua, general Augulo, and his brother commandant 
Munecas and other partizan chiefs, who were shot in cold blood, after 
having been prisoners for several days. 

" They took a brutal pleasure in cropping the ears of the natives of 
the town of Ville-grande, and sending a basket full of them as presents to 
the head-quarters. They afterwards burnt that town, and set fire to thir- 
ty other populous towns of Peru, and worse than the worst of savages 
shutting the inhabitants up in the houses, before setting them on fire, 
that lliey might be burnt alive. 

" They have not only been cruel and unsparing in their mode of mur- 
der, but they have been void of all morality and public decency, caus- 
ing aged ecclesiastics and women to be lashed to a gun, and publicly 
flogged, with the abomination of first having them stripped, and their 
nakedness exposed to shame, in the presence of their troops. 

" They established an inquisitorial system in all these punishmentsj 
*hey have seized on peaceable inhabitants, and transported them across 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 83 

terest concerned our politics, our commerce, our navigation. 
There could not be a doubt that Spanish America, once in- 
dependent, whatever might be the form of the governments 
established in its several parts, these governments would be 
animated by an American feeling, and guided by an Ame- 
rican policy. They would obey the laws of the system of 
the New World, of which they would compose a part, in 
contradistinction to that of Europe. Without the influence 
of that vortex in Europe the balance of power between its 
several parts, the preservation of which had so often drench- 
ed Europe in blood, America is sufficiently remote to con- 
template the new wars which are to afflict that quarter of 

the sea to be jndged for suspected crimes, and they have put a great 
number of citi/eas to death every where, without accusation or the form 
of a trial. 

" They have invented a crime of unexampled horror, in poisoning our 
water and provisions, when they were conquered by general Pineto at 
La Paz, and in return for the kindness with which he treated them, after 
they had surrendered at discretion, they had the barbarity to blow up the 
head-quarters, under which they had constructed a mine, and prepared 
a train beforehand. 

*' He has branded us with the stigma ot rebels, the moment he return- 
ed to Madrid; he refused to listen to our complaints, or to receive our 
supplications: and as an act of extreme favour, he offered us a pardon. 
He confirmed the viceroys, governors and generals whom he found ac- 
tually glutted with carnage. He declared us guilty of a high misdemean- 
or for having dared to frame a constitution for our own government, free 
from the control of a deified, absolute and tyrannical power, under 
which we had groaned three centuries; a measure ttiat could be offensive 
only to a prince, an enemy to justice and beneficence, and consequently 
unworthy to rule over us. 

«' He then undertook, with the aid of his ministers, to equip large 
military armaments, to be directed against us. He caused numerous ar- 
mies to be sent out, to consummate the work of devastation, fire and 
plunder. 

" He has sent his generals, with certain decrees of pardon, which they 
publish to deceive the ignorant, and induce them to facilitate their en- 
trance into townsj whilst at the same time he has given them other secret 
instructions, authorizing them, as soon as they should get possession of a 
place, to hang, burn, confiscate and sack; to encourage private assassi- 
nations — and to commit every species of injury in their power, against 
the deluded beings who had confided in his pretended pardon. It is in 
the name of Ferdinand of Bourbon that the heads of patriot officers, pri- 
soners, are fixed up in the highways, that they beat and stoned to death 
a commandant of light troops, and that, after having killed colonel * 'a-^ 

3, tlie 



84 ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 

the globe, as a calm, if not a cold and indifferent spectator. 
In relation to those wars, the several parts of America will 
generally stand neutral. And as, during the period when 
they rage, it will be important that a liberal system of neu- 
trality should be adopted and observed, all America will be 
interested in maintaining and enforcing such a system. 
The independence then of Spanish America was the inter- 
est of primary consideration. Next to that, and highly im- 
portant in itself, was the consideration of the nature of their 
governments. That was a question, however, for them- 
selves. They would, no doubt, adopt those kinds of gov- 
ernments which were best suited to their condition, best 
calculated for their happiness. Anxious as he was that they 
should be free governments, we had no right to prescribe 
for them. They were, and ought to be, the sole judges for 
themselves. He was strongly inclined to believe that they 
would in most, if not all, parts of their country, establisli 
free governments. We were their great example. Of us they 
constantly spoke as of brothers, having a similar origin. 
They adopted our principles, copied our institutions, and, 
in many instances, employed the very language and senti- 
ments of our revolutionary papers. [Here Mr. Clay read 
a passage from the same manifesto before cited.*] But it is 
sometinnes said that they are too ignorant and too supersti- 
tious to admit of the existence of free government. This 
charge of ignorance is often urged by persons themselves 
actually ignorant of the real condition of that people. He 
denied the ailed ged fact of ignorance; he denied the inference 
from that fact, if it were true, that they wanted capacity for 
free government; and he refused his assent to the further 
conclusion, if the fact were true, and the inference just, that 
we wei*e to be indifferent to their fate. All the writers of 
the most established authority, Depons, Humboldt, and 
others, concur in assigning to the people of Spanish Ame- 
rica, great quickness, genius, and particular aptitude for the 
acquisition of the exact sciences; and others which they 

/ *" Having then been thus impelled by the Spaniards and their king 
we have calculated all the consequences, and have constituted ourselves 
independent, prepared to exercise the right of nature to defend ourselves 
against the ravages of tyranny, at the risk of our honour, our Jives and 
fortune. We have sworn to the only king we acknowledge, the supreme 
Judge of the world, that we will not abandon the cause of justice; that 
we will not suffer ihe country which he has given us to be buried in ru- 
ins, and inundated with blood, by the hands of the executioner, Srr " 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 85 

have been allowed to cultivate. In astronomy, geology, min- 
eralogy, chemistry, botany, &c. they are allowed to make 
distinguished proficiency. They justly boast of their Ab- 
zate, Velasques, and Gama, and other illustrious contribu- 
tors to science. They have nine universities, and in the ci- 
ty of Mexico, it is affirmed by Humboldt, that there are 
more solid scientific establishments than in any city even of 
North America. He would refer to the message of the su- 
preme director of La Plata, which he would hereafter have 
occasion to use for another purpose, as a model of fine com- 
position of a state paper, challenging a comparison with any, 
the most celebrated that ever issued from the pens of Jef- 
ferson or Madison. Gentlemen would egregiously err if 
they formed their opinions of the present moral condition 
of Spanish America, from what it was under the debasing 
system of Spain. The eight year's revolution in which it has 
been engaged, has already produced a powerful effect. 

Education had been attended to, and genius developed. 
[Here Mr. C read a passage from the Colonial Journal, 
published last summer in Great Britain, where a disposition 
to exaggerate on that side of the question, could hardly be 
supposed to exist.*] The fact was not therefore true, that 
the imputed ignorance existed; but, if it did, he repeated 
that he disputed the inference. It was the doctrine of thrones, 
that manjwas^too ignorant to govern himself. Their parti- 
saris~assert his incapacity ThrefeTerice to all nations; if they 
cannot command universal assent to the proposition, it is 
then demanded as to particular nations; and our pride and 
our presumption too often make converts of us. Mr. Clay 
contended that it was to arraign the dispositions of Provi- 
dence himself to suppose that he had created beings incapa- 
ble of governing themselves, and to be trampled on by kings. 
He contended that self-government was the natural govern- 
ment of man, and he referred to the aborigines of our own i | 
land. If he were to speculate in hypotheses unfavourable ' ' 

" • As soon as the project of revolution arose on the shores of La Pla- 
ta, genius and talent exhibited their influence; the capacity of the peo- 
ple became manifest, and the means of acquiring knowledge vrcre soon 
made the favourite pursuit of the youth. As far as the wants, or the 
inevitable interruption of affairs have allowed, every thing has been 
done to disseminate useful information. The liberty of the press has 
indeed met with some occasional checks; but in Buenos Ayres alone as 
many periodical works weekly issue from the press as in Spain and Por- 
tugal put together." 



86 ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA 

to human liberty, his should be founded rather upon the 
vices, refinements, or density of population. Crowded to- 
gether in compact masses, even if they were philosophers, 
the contagion of the passions is communicated and caught, 
and the effect too often, he admitted, was the overthrow of 
liberty. Dispersed over such an immense space as that on 
which the people of Spanish America were spread, their 
physical, and he believed also their moral condition, both 
favored their liberty. 

With regard to their superstition, Mr. Clay said, they 
worshipped the same God with us. Their prayers were of- 
fered up in their temples to the same Redeemer, whose in- 
tercession we expected to save us. Nor was there any thing 
in the Catholic religion unfavorable to freedom. AH reli- 
gions united with government were more or less inimical 
to liberty. All, separated from government, were compati- 
ble with liberty. If the people of Spanish America had 
not already gone as far, in religious toleration, as we had, 
the difference in their condition from ours, should not be 
forgotten. Every thing was progressive; and, in time he 
hoped to see them imitating, tii this f'g^pect, our example. 
But, grant that the people of Spanish America are igno- 
rant and incompetent for free government, to whom is that 
ignorance to be ascribed? Is it not to the execrable system 
of Spain, which she seeks again to establish and to perpet- 
uate? So far from chilling our hearts, it ought to increase 
our solicitude for our unfortunate brethren. It ought to an- 
imate us to desire the redemption of the minds and the bo- 
dies of unborn millions from the brutifying effects of a sys- 
tem whose tendency is to stifle the faculties of the soul, and 
to degrade man to the level of beasts. He would invoke 
the spirits of our departed fathers. Was it for yourselves 
only, that you nobly fought? No, no. It was the chains that 
were forging for your posterity that made you ^y to arms, 
"and scattering the elements of these chains to the winds, 
you transmitted to us the rich inheritance of liberty. 
, The exports of Spanish America (exclusive of those of 
//the islands) are estimated in the valuable little work of M. 
Torres, deserving to be better known, at about eighty-one 
millions of dollars. Of these more than three-fourths con- 
sist of the precious metals. The residue are cocoa, coffee, 
cochineal, sugar, and some other articles. No nation ever 
offered richer commodities in exchange. It was of no ma- 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. S7 

terial consequence that we produced but little that Spanish 
America wanted. Commerce, as it actually exists, in the 
hands of maritime states, was no longer confined to a mere 
barter, between any two states, of their respective produc- 
tions. It rendered tributary to its interests the commodi- 
ties of all quarters of the world. So that a rich American 
cargo, or the contents of an American commercial ware- 
house, presented you with whatever was rare or valuable 
in every part of the globe. Commerce was not to be judg- 
ed by its results in transactions with one nation only. Un- 
favourable balances existing with one state are made up by 
contrary balances with other states. And its true value 
should be tested by the totality of its operations. Our great- 
est trade — that with Great Britain, judged by the amount 
of what we sold for her consumption, and what we bought 
of her for ours, would be pronounced ruinous. But the un- 
favourable balance was covered by the profits of trade with 
other nations. We may safely trust to the daring enterprize 
of our merchants. The precious metals are in South Ame- 
rica, and they will command the articles wanted in South 
America, which will purchase them. Our navigation will 
be benefited by the transportation, and our country will re- 
alize the mercantile profits. Already the item in our exports 
of American manufactures is respectable. They go chiefly 
to the West Indies and to Spanish America. This item is 
constantly augmenting. And he would again, as he had 
on another occasion, ask gentlemen to elevate themselves to 
the actual importance and greatness of our republic; to re- 
flect like true American statesmen, that we were not legis- 
lating for the present day only; and to contemplate this coun- 
try in its march to true greatness, when millions and mil- 
lions will be added to our population, and when the in- 
creased productive industry will furnish an infinite variety 
of fabrics for foreign consumption in order to supply our 
own wants. The distribution of the precious metals has 
hitherto been principally made through the circuitous chan- 
nel of Cadiz. No one can foresee all the effects which will 
result from a direct distribution of them from the mines 
which produce them. One of these effects will probably be 
to give us the entire command of the Indian trade. The 
advantage we have on the map of the world over Europe, 
in that respect, is prodigious. Again, if England, persist- 
ing in her colonial monopoly, continued to occlude- her ports 



88 ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 

in the West Indies to us, and we should, as he contended 
we ought, meet her system by a countervailing measure, 
Venezuela, New Grenada, and other parts of Spanish Ame- 
rica, would afford us all that we get from the British West 
Indies. He confessed that he despaired, for the present, of 
adopting that salutary measure. It was proposed at the 
last session, and postponed. It was during the present ses- 
sion again proposed, and, he feared, would be again post- 
poned. He saw, and he owned it with infinite regret, a tone 
and a feeling in the councils of the country infinitely below 
that which belonged to the country. It was perhaps the 
moral consequence of the exertions of the late war. We 
are alarmed at dangers, we know not what, by spectres 
conjured up by our own vivid imaginations. 

The West India bill is brought up. We shrug our shoul- 
ders, talk of restrictions, non-intercourse, embargo, commer- 
cial warfare, make long faces, and — postpone the bill. The 
time will however come — must come, when this country will 
not submit to a commerce with the British colonies upon 
the terms which England alone prescribes. And, he re- 
peated, that, when it arrived, Spanish America would afford 
us an ample substitute. Then, as to our navigation; gen- 
tlemen should recollect that, if reasoning from past expe- 
rience were safe, for the future our great commercial rival 
will be in war a greater number of years than she will be 
in peace. Whenever she shall be at war and we are in 
peace, our navigation, being free from the risks and insur- 
ance incident to war, we shall engross almost the whole 
transportation of the Spanish American commerce. For 
he did not believe that that country would ever have a 
considerable marine. Mexico, the most populous part o» 
it, had but two ports, La Vera Cruz, and Acapulca, and 
neither of them very good. Spanish America had not the 
elements to construct a marine. It wanted, and must always 
want hardy seamen. He did not believe that, in the present 
improved state of navigation, any nations so far south would 
ever make a figure as maritime powers. If Carthage and 
Rome, in ancient times, and some other states of a later 
period, occasionally made great exertions on the water, it 
must be recollected, that they were principally on a small 
theatre, and in a totally different, state of the art of naviga- 
tion, or when there was no competition from northern states. 

He was aware that, in opposition to the interest which 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 89 

he had been endeavouring to manifest that this country had 
in the independence of Spanish America, it was contended, 
that we should find that country a great rival in agricultural 
productions. There was something so narrow and selfish 
and grovelling in this argument, if founded in fact, some- 
thing so unworthy the magnanimity of a great and a gene- 
rous people, that he confessed he had scarcely patience to 
notice it. But it was not true to any extent. Of the eighty 
odd millions of exports, only about one million and a half 
consisted of an article which might come into competition 
%vith us, and that was cotton. The tobacco which Spain de- 
rived from her colonies was chiefly produced in her islands. 
Bread stuffs could no where be raised and brought to market 
in any amount materially afltcting us. The t|ible lands of 
Mexico, owing to their elevation, were, it was true, well 
adapted to the culture of grain; but the expense and difficulty 
of getting it to the gulf of Mexico, and the action of the in- 
tense heat at La Vera Cruz, the only port of exportation, 
must always prevent Mexico from being an alarming com- 
petitor. Spanish America was capable of producing articles 
so much more valuable than those which we raised, that it 
was not probable they would abandon a more profitable for 
a less advantageous culture, to come into competition with 
us. The West India islands were well adapted to the rai- 
sing cotton; and yet the more valuable culture of coffee and 
sugar was constantly preferred. Again, Providence had so 
ordered it, that with regard to countries producing articles; 
apparently similar, there was some peculiarity, resulting ! 
from climate, or from some other cause, that gave to each 
an appropriate place in the general wants and consumption 
of mankind. The southern part of the continent, La Plata 
and Chili, was too remote to rival us. 

The immense country, w^atered by the Mississippi, and 
its branches, had a peculiar interest, which he trusted he 
should be excused for noticing. Having but the single vent 
of New Orleans, for all the surplus produce of their industry, 
it was quite evident that thev would have a greater security 
for enjoying the advantages of that outlet, if the indepen- 
dence of Mexico upon any European power were effected. 
Such a power owning at the same time Cuba, the great key 
of the gulf of Mexico, and all the shores of that gulf, with 
the exception of the portion between the Perdido and the 
Rio del Norde, must have a powerful command ovel* our 
N 



K 



90 ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 

interests. Spain, it was tiue, was not a dangerous neighbour 
at present, but, in the vicissitudes of states, her power might 
be again resuscitatedT" 

Mr. C. continued: Having shown that the cause of the 
patriots was just, and that we had a great interest in it5 
successful issue, he would next inquire what course of po- 
licy it became us to adopt. He had already declared that to 
be one of strict and impartial neutrality. It was not neces- 
sary for their interests, it was not expedient, for our own, 
that we should take part in the war. All they demanded of 
us was a just neutrality. It was compatible with this pacific 
policy, — it was required by it, that we should recognize any 
established government, if there were any established go- 
vernment in Spanish America. Recognition alone, without 
aid, was no just cause of war. With aid it was, not because 
of the recognition, but because of the aid, as aid without 
recognition was cause of war. The truth of these proposi- 
tions he would maintain upon principle, by the practice of 
other states, and by the usage of our own. There was no 
con>mon tribunal, among nations to pronounce upon the 
fact of the sovereignty of a new state. Each power does 
and must judge for itself. It was an attribute of sovereignty 
so to judge. A nation, in exerting this incontestible right, 
— in pronouncing upon the independence in fact of a new 
state, takes no part in the war. It gives neither men, nor 
ships, nor money. It merely pronounces that in so far as it 
may be necessary to institute any relations or to support any 
intercourse, with the new power, that power is capable of 
maintaining those relations and authorizing that intercourse. 
Martens and other publicists lay down these principles. 

When the United Provinces formerly severed themselves 
from Spain, it was about eighty years before their indepen- 
dence was finally recognised by Spain. Before that recog- 
nition, the United Provinces had been received by all the 
rest of Europe into the family of nations. It is true that a 
war broke out between Philip and Elizabeth, but it pro- 
ceeded from the aid which she determined to give and did 
give to Holland. In no instance he believed could it be 
shown, from authentic history, that Spain made war upon 
any power on the sole ground that such power had acknow- 
ledged the independence of the United Provinces. 

In the case of our own revolution, it was not until after 
France had given us aid, and had determined to enter into 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 9i 

a treaty of alliance with us, — a treaty by which she guaran- 
teed our independence, that England declared war. Holland 
also was charged by England with favouring our cause, and 
deviating from the line of strict neutrality. And, when it 
was perceived that she was moreover about to enter into a 
treaty with us, England declared war. Even if it were 
shown that a proud, haughty and powerful nation, like En- 
gland, had made war, upon other provinces, on the ground 
of a mere recognition, the single example could not alter the 
public law, or shake the strength of a clear principle. 

But what had been our uniform practice? We had con- 
stantly proceeded on the principle, that the government de 
facto was that we could alone notice. Whatever form of 
government any society of people adopts; whoever they ac- 
knowledge as their sovereign, we consider that government 
or that sovereign as the one to be acknowledged by us. We 
have invariably abstained from assuming a right to decide 
in favour of the sovereign de jure^ and against the sovereign 
de facto. That is a question for the nation in which it arises 
to determine. And so far as we are concerned, the sovereign 
de facto is the sovereign de jure. Our own revolution stands 
on the basis of the right of a people to change their rulers. 
He did not maintain that every immature revolution, — eve- 
ry usurper, before his power was consolidated, was to be 
acknowledged by us; but that as soon as stability and order 
were maintained, no matter by whom, we always had con- 
sidered, and ought to consider the actual as the true go- 
vernment. General Washington, — Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Ma- 
dison, had all, whilst they were respectively presidents, 
acted on these principles. 

In the case of the French republic. Gen. Washington did 
not wait until some of the crowned heads of Europe should 
set him the example of acknowledging it, but accredited a 
minister at once. And it is remarkable that he was received 
before the government of the republic was considered as 
established. It will be found, in Marshall's life of Washing- 
ton, that when it was understood that a minister from the 
French republic was about to present himself. President 
Washington submitted a number of questions to his cabi- 
net for their consideration and advice, one of which was, 
whether, upon the reception of the minister, he should be 
notified that America would suspend the execution of the 
treaties between the two countries until France had an es- 



92 ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 

tablished government. Gen. Washington did not stop to 
inquire v/hether the descendants of St. Louis were to be 
considered as the legitimate sovereigns of France, and if 
the revolution was to be regarded as unauthorized resistance 
to their sway. He saw France, in fact, under the govern- 
ment of those who had subverted the throne of the Bour- 
bons, and he acknowledged the actual government. During 
Mr. Jefferson's and Mr. Madison's administrations, when 
the Cortes of Spain and Joseph Bonaparte respectively con- 
tended for the crown, those enlightened statesmen said, we 
will receive a minister from neither party; settle the ques- 
tion between yourselves, and we will acknowledge the party 
that prevails. We have nothing to do with your feuds; who- 
ever all Spain acknowledges as her sovereign, is the only- 
sovereign with whom we can maintain any relations. Mr. 
Jefferson, it is understood, considered whether he should 
not receive a minister from both parties, and finally decided 
against it, because of the inconveniencies to this country, 
which might result from the double representation of another 
power. As soon as the French armies were expelled from 
the Peninsula, Mr. Madison, still acting on the principle of 
the government defacto^ received the present minister from 
Spain. During all the phases of the French government, 
republic, directory, consuls, consul for life, emperor, king, 
emperor again, king, our government has uniformly received 
the minister. 

If, then, there be an established government in Spanish 
America, deserving to rank among the nations, we were mo- 
rally and politically bound to acknowledge it, unless we re- 
nounced all the principles which ought to guide, and which 
hitherto had guided, our councils. Mr. C. then undertook to 
show, that the united provinces of the Rio de la Plata pos- 
sessed such a government. Its limits, he said, extending from 
the south Atlantic ocean to the Pacific, embraced a territory- 
equal to that of the United States, certainly equal to it, ex- 
clusive of Louisiana. Its population was about three mil- 
lions, more than equal to ours at the commencement of our 
revolution. That population was a hardy, enterprising and 
gallant population. The establishments of Monte Video 
and Buenos Ayres, had, during different periods of their 
history, been attacked by the French, Dutch, Danes, Por- 
tuguese, English, and Spanish; and such was the martial 
character of the people, that in every instance the attack had 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 93 

been repulsed. In 1807, general Whitlocke commanding a 
powerful English army, was admitted, under the guise of a 
friend, into Buenos Avres, and as soon as he was supposed 
to have demonstrated inimical designs, he was driven by 
the native and unaided force of Buenos Ayres from the 
country. Buenos Ayres had, during now nearly eight years, 
been in point of fact in the enjoyment of self-government. 
The capital, containing more than sixty thousand inhabi- 
tants, has never been once lost. As early as 1811, the re- 
gency of Old Spain made war upon Buenos Ayres, and the 
consequence subsequently was, the capture of a Spanish 
army in Monte Video, equal to that of Burgoyne. This 
government has now, in excellent discipline, three well ap- 
pointed armies, with the most abundant material of war: the 
army of Chili — the army of Peru, and the army of Buenos 
Ayres. The first under San Martin, has conquered Chili: 
the second is penetrating in a north-western direction from 
Buenos Ayres, into the vice royalty of Peru; and according 
to the last accounts, had reduced the ancient seat of empire 
of the Incas. The third remains at Buenos Ayres to op- 
pose any force which Spain may send against it. To show 
the condition of the country in July last, Mr. C. again call- 
ed the attention of the committee to the message of the su- 
preme director, delivered to the Congress of the United 
Provinces. It was a paper of the same authentic character 
with the speech of the king of England on opening his par- 
liament, or the message of the president of the United 
States, at the commencement of congress.*' There was a 

* The following are the passages read by Mr. Clay: 
" The army of this capital was organized at the same time with those 
of the Andes and of the interior; the regular force has been nearly 
doubled; the militia has made great progress in military discipline; our 
slave population has been formed into battalions, and taught the military 
art as far as is consistent with their condition. The capital is under no 
apprehension that an army of ten thousand men can shake its liberties, 
and, should the Peninsularians send against us thrice that number, am- 
ple provision has been made to receive them. 

" Our navy has been fostered in all its branches. The scarcity of 
means under which we laboured until now, has not prevented us from 
undertaking very considerable operations, with respect to the national 
vessels; all of them have been repaired, and others have been purchased 
and armed, for the defence of our coasts and rivers; provisions have been 
made, should necessity require it, for arming many more, so that the 
enemy will not find himself secure from our reprisals even upon the 
ocean. 



94 ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA- 

spirit of bold confidence running through this fine state pa- 
per, which nothing but conscious strength could communi- 
cate. Their armies, their magazines, their finances, were on 
the most solid and respectable footing. And, amidst all the 
cares of war, and those incident to the consolidation of their 
new institutions, leisure was found to promote the interests 
of science, and the education of the rising generation. It 
was true, that the first part of the message portrayed scenes 

" Our military force, at every point which it occupies, seems to be 
animated with the same spirit; its tactics are uniform, and have under- 
gone a rapid improvement from the science of experience, which it has 
borrowed from warlike nations. 

" Our arsenals have been replenished with arms, and a sufficient store 
of cannon and munitions of war have been provided to maintain the con- 
test for many years; and this, after having supplied articles of every 
description to those districts, which have not as yet come into the union, 
but whose connexion with us has been only intercepted by reason of our 
past misfortunes. 

"Our legions daily receive considerable augmentations from new- 
levies; all our preparations have been made, as though we were about 
to enter upon the contest anew. Until now, the vastness of our resour- 
ces were unknown to us, and our enemies may contemplate, with deep 
mortification and despair, the present flourishing state of these provinces 
after so many devastations. 

*' Whilst thus occupied in providing for our safety within, and pre- 
paring for assaults from without, other objects of solid interest have not 
been neglected, and which hitherto were thought to oppose insurmount- 
able obstacles. 

" Our system of finance had hitherto been on a footing entirely inad- 
«quate to the unfailing supply of our wants, and still more to the liquida- 
tion of the immense debt which had been contracted in former years. 
An unremitted application to this object has enabled me to create the 
means of satisfying the creditors of the state, who had already abandoned 
their debts as lost, as well as to devise a fixed mode, by which the taxes 
may be made to fall equally and indirectly on the whole mass of our pop- 
ulation; it is not the least merit of this operation, that it has been effected 
in despite of the writings by which it was attacked, and which are but 
little creditable to the intelligence and good intentions of their authors. 
At no other period have the public exigences been so punctually sup- 
plied, nor have more important works been undertaken. 

" The people, moreover, have been relieved from many burdens, which 
being partial, or confined to particular classes, had occasioned vexation 
and disgust. Other vexations scarcely less grievous will by degrees be 
also suppressed, avoiding as far as possible a recurrence to loans, which 
have drawn after them the most fatal consequences to states. Should 
we, however, be compelled to resort to such expedients the lenders will 
not see themselves in danger of losing their advances. 

" Many undertakings have been set on foot for the advancement of 
the general prosperity. Such has been the re-establishing of the college, 
heretofore named San Carlos, but hereafter to be called the Union of 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 95 

of difficulty and commotion, the usual attendants upon re- 
volution. The very avowal of their troubles manifested 
however, that they were subdued. And what state, passing 
through the agitations of a great revolution, was free from 
them? We had our tories, our intrigues, our factions. More 
than once were the affections of the country, and the con- 
fidence of our councils, attempted to be shaken in the great 
father of our liberties. Not a Spanish bayonet remains with- 
in the immense extent of the territories of La Plata to con- 
test the authority of the actual government. It is free, it is 
independent— it is sovereign. It manages the interests of 
the society that submits to its sway. It is capable of main- 
taining the relations between that society and other nations. 
Are we not hound, then, upon our own principles, to ac- 
knowledge this new republic? If we do not, who will? Are 
we to expect, that kings will set us the example of acknow- 
ledgmg the only republic on earth, except our own? We 
receive, promptly receive, a minister from whatever king 
sends us one. From the great powers and the little powers 
we accredit ministers. We do more: we hasten to recipro- 
cate the compliment; and anxious to manifest our gratitude 

the South, as a point designated for the dissemination of learning ^o the 
youth of every part of the slate, on the most extensiFe scaJe, for the at- 
tainment of which object the government is at the present moment en- 
gaged in putting m practice every possible dihgence. It will not be 
long betore these nurseries r^ill flourish, in which the liberal and exact 
sciences will be cultivated, in which the hearts of those young men will 
be lormed, who are destined at some future day to add new splendor to 
©ur country. ^ ^ 

«' Such has been the establishment of a military depot on the frontier 
with Its spacious magazine, a necessary measure to guard us from future 
dangers, a work which does more honour to the prudent foresio-ht of our 
country, as it was undertaken in the moment of its prosperous fortunes 
a measure which must give more occasion for reflection to our enemies' 
than they can impose upon us by their boastings. ' 

"Fellow citizens we owe our unhappy reverses and calamities to the 
depraving system of our ancient metropohs, which in condemning us to 
the obscuruy and opprobrium of the most degraded destiny, has sown 

That otr'h ' -^'^ r^' "°°^""'^ "^ ^° ^^^'"'y- Tell that metropoTis 
that even she may glory m your works! Already have vou cleared alJ 
the rocks, escaped every danger, and conducted these provinces to the 
flourishing condition m which we now behold them. Let the enemies of 
your name contemplate with despair the energies of your vHuTsn"! 

ous'rr^'"?' f "^rr^'^^' ^'^^ >°" already appertL to their illus- 
nCin^d^nJ^I 1 "' <^;"''«'f^te °»rseives on the blessings wehave already 

?he evnii^ni f"' "'""' *° ^^^ ^°''^'' ^^^* ^« ^^^^ l^^rned to profit bv 
the experience of our past misfortunes." 



96 ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 

for royal civility, we send for a minister (as in the case of 
Sweden and the Netherlands) of the lowest grade; one of 
the highest rank recognized by our laws. We were the 
natural head of the American family. He would not inter- 
meddle in the affairs of Europe. We wisely kept aloof 
from their broils. He would not even intermeddle in those 
of other parts of America, farther than to exert the incon- 
testible rights appertaining to us as a free, sovereign and 
independent power; and, he contended, that the accrediting 
of a minister from the new republic was such a right. We 
were bound to receive their minister, if we meant to be 
really neutral. If the royal belligerent were represented 
and heard at our government, the republican belligerent 
ought also to be heard. Otherwise, one party would be in the 
condition of the poor patriots who were tried ex parte the 
other day in the Supreme Court, without counsel, without 
friends. Give Mr. Onis his conge, or receive the republican 
minister. Unless you do so, your neutrality is nominal. 

Mr. C. next proceeded to inquire into the consequences 
of a recognition of the new republic. Will it involve us in 
war with Spain? He had shown, he trusted, successfully 
shown, that it was no just cause of war to Spain. Being no 
cause of war, we had no right to expect that war would 
ensue. If Spain, without cause, would make war, she may 
make it whether we do or do not acknowledge the republic. 
But she would not, because she could not, make war against 
us. He called the attention of the committee to a report of 
the minister of the Hacienda to the king of Spain presented 
about eight months ago. A more beggarly account of empty 
boxes, Mr. C. said, was never rendered. The picture of Mr. 
Dallas, sketched in his celebrated report during the last 
war, may be contemplated without emotion after surveying 
that of Mr. Gary. The expenses of the current year required 
eight hundred and thirty millions two hundred and sixty- 
seven thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine of reals, and 
the deficit of the income is represented as two hundred and 
thirty-three millions one hundred and forty thousand nine 
hundred and thirty-two of reals. This, besides an immense 
mass of unliquidated debt, which the minister acknowledges 
the utter inability of the country to pay, although bound in 
honor to redeem it. He states that the vassals of the king 
are totally unable to submit to any new taxes, and the coun- 
try is without credit, so as to render anticipation by loans 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 97 

wholly impracticable. Mr. Gary appears to be a virtuous 
man, who exhibits frankly the naked truth; and yet such a 
minister acknowledges, that the decorum due to one single 
family, that of the monarch, does not admit, in this critical 
condition of his country, any reduction of the enormous sum 
of upwards of fifty-six millions of reals, set apart to defray 
the expenses of that family! — He states that a foreign war 
would be the greatest of all calamities, and one which, being 
unable to provide for it, they ought to employ every possible 
means to avert. He proposed some inconsiderable contri- 
bution from the clergy, and the whole body was instantly 
in an uproar. Indeed, Mr. C. had no doubt, that, surround- 
ed as Mr. Gary was, by corruption, by intrigue, and folly, 
and imbecility, he would be compelled to retire, if he had 
not already been dismissed, from a post for which he had 
too much integrity. It had been now about four years since 
the restoration of Ferdinand; and if during that period, the 
whole energies of the monarchy had been directed unsuc- 
cessfully against the weakest and most vulnerable of all the 
American possessions, Venezuela, how was it possible for 
Spain to encounter the difficulties of a new war with this 
country?-— Morillo had been sent out with one of the finest 
armies that had ever left the shores of Europe — consisting 
of ten thousand men, chosen from all the veterans who had 
fought in the Peninsula. It had subsequently been rein- 
forced with about three thousand more. And yet, during 
the last summer, it was reduced, by the sword and the cli- 
mate, to about four thousand effective men. And Vene- 
zuela, containing a population of only about one million, of 
which near two-thirds were persons of color, remained un- 
subdued. The little island of Margaritta, whose population 
was less than twenty thousand inhabitants — a population 
fighting for liberty with more than Roman valor — had com- 
pelled that army to retire upon the main. Spain, by the late 
accounts, appeared to be deliberating upon the necessity of 
resorting to that measure of conscription, for which Bona- 
parte had been so much abused. The effect of a war with 
this country, would be to ensure success, beyond all doubt, 
to the cause of American independence. Those parts even, 
over which Spain has some prospect of maintaining her 
dominion, would probably be put in jeopardy. Such a war 
would be attended with the immediate and certain loss of 
Florida. Commanding the Gulf of Mexico, as we should 
O 



98 ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 

be enabled to do by our navy, blockading the port of Ha- 
vanna, the port of La Vera Cruz, and the coast of Terra 
Firma, and throwing munitions of war into Mexico, Cuba 
would be menaced — Mexico emancipated — and Morillo's 
army deprived of supplies, now drawn principally from this 
country thxough the Havanna, compelled to surrender. The 
war, he verily believed, would be terminated in less than 
two years, supposing no other power to interpose. 

Will the allies interfere? If by the exertion of an unques- 
tionable attribute of a sovereign power, we should give no 
just cause of war to Spain herself, how could it be pretended 
that we should furnish even a specious pretext to the al- 
lies for making war upon us? On what ground could they 
attempt to justify a rupture with us for the exercise of a 
right which we hold in common with them, and with every 
other independent state? But we have a surer guarantee 
against their hostility, in their interests. That all the allies, 
who have any foreign commerce, have an interest in the in- 
dependence of Spanish America, was perfectly evident. On 
what ground, he asked, was it likely, then, that they would 
support Spain, in opposition to their own decided interest? 
To crush the spirit of revolt, and prevent the progress of 
free principles? Nations, like individuals, do not sensibly 
feel, and seldom act upon dangers, which are remote either 
in time or place. Of Spanish Amenca but little is known 
by the great body of the population of Europe. Even in this 
country the most astonishing ignorance prevails respecting 
them. Those European statesmen who were acquainted with 
the country, would reflect, that, tossed by a great revolution, 
it would most probably constitute four or five several na- 
tions, and that the ultimate modification of all their various 
governments was by no means absolutely certain. But, Mr. 
C. said, he entertained no doubt that the principle of cohe- 
sion among the allies was gone. It was annihilated in the 
memorable battle of Waterloo. When the question was, 
whether one should engross all, a common danger united 
all. How long was it, even with a clear perception of that 
danger, before an effective coalition could be formed? How 
often did one power stand by, unmoved and indifferent to 
the fate of its neighbour, although the destruction of that 
neighbour removed the only barrier to an attack upon itself? 
No; the consummation of the cause of the allies was, and 
all history and all experience would prove it, the destruc 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 99 

tion of the alliance. The principle was totally changed. It 

was no longer a common struggle against the colossal power 

of Bonaparte, but it became a common scramble for the 

spoils of his empire. There may, indeed, be one or two 

points on which a common interest still exists, such as the 

convenience of subsisting their armies on the vitals of poor 

suffering France. But as for action — for new enterprizes, 

there was no principle of unity, there could be no accord- " I 

ance of interests, or of views, among them. ' 

What was the condition in which Europe was left after 
all its efforts? It was divided into two great powers, one 
having the undisputed command of the land — the other of 
the water. Paris was transferred to St. Petersburgh, and 
the navies of Europe were at the bottom of tlie sea, or con- 
centered in the ports of England. Russia — that huge land 
animal — awing by the dread of her vast power all conti- 
nental Europe, was seeking to encompass the Porte; and 
constituting herself the kraken of the ocean, was anxious to 
lave her enormous sides in the more genial waters of the 
Mediterranean. It was said, he knew, that she had indi- 
cated a disposition to take part with Spain. No such thing. 
She had sold some old worm-eaten, decayed fir-built ships 
to Spain, but the crews which navigated them, were to re- 
turn from the port of delivery, and the bonus she was to get, 
he believed to be the island of Minorca, in conformity with 
the cardinal point of her policy. France was greatly inter- 
ested in whatever would extend her commerce, and regene- 
rate her marine, and consequently, more than any other 
power of Europe, England alone excepted, was concerned 
in the independence of Spanish America. He did not de- 
spair of France, so long as France had a legislative body, 
collected from all its parts, the great repository of its wishes 
and its will. Already had that body manifested a spirit of 
considerable independence. And those who, conversant 
with French history, knew what magnanimous stands had 
been made by the parliaments, bodies of limited, extent, 
against the royal prerogative, would be able to appreciate 
justly the moral force of such a legislative body. Whilst it 
exists, the true interests of France will be cherished and 
pursued on points of foreign policy, in opposition to the 
pride and interests of the Bourbon family, if the actual dy- 
nasty, impelled by this pride, should seek to subserve these 
interests. 



100 ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA 

England finds that, after all her exertions, she is every 
where despised on the continent; her maritime power viewed 
with jealousy; her commerce subjected to the most onerous 
restrictions; selfishness imputed to all her policy. All the 
accounts from France represent that every party, Bonapar- 
tists, Jacobins, Royalists, Moderes, Ultras, all burn with 
indignation towards England, and pant for an opportunity 
to avenge themselves on the power to whom they ascribe 
all their disasters. 

[Here Mr. C. read a part of a letter which he had just 
received from an intelligent friend at Paris, and which com- 
posed only a small portion of a mass of evidence to the same 
effect, which had come under his notice.] It was impossi- 
ble, he said, that with powers, between whom so much cor- 
dial dislike, so much incongruity existed, there could be 
any union or concert. Whilst the free principles of the 
French revolution remained; those principles which were so 
alarming to the stability of thrones, there never had been 
any successful or cordial union; coalition after coalition, 
wanting the spirit of union, was swept away by the over- 
whelming power of France. It was not until those princi- 
ples were abandoned and Bonaparte had erected on their 
ruins his stupendous fabric of universal empire — nor in- 
deed until after the frosts of Heaven favored the cause of 
Europe, that an effective coalition was formed. No, said 
Mr. C. the complaisance inspired in the allies from unex- 
pected, if not undeserved success, might keep them nomi- 
nally together; but for all purposes of united and combined 
action, the alliance was gone; and he did not believe in the 
chimera of their crusading against the independence of a 
country, whose liberation would essentially promote all their 
respective interests. 

But the question of the interposition of the allies, in the 
event of our recognizing the new republic, resolved itself 
into a question whether England, in such event, would make 
war uppn us: If it could be shown that England would not, 
it resulted either that the other allies would not, or that, 
if they should, in which case England would most probably 
support the cause of America, it would be a war without 
the maritime ability to maintain it. He contended that En- 
gland was alike restrained by her honor and by her interest 
from waging war against us, and consequently against Spa- 
nish America, also for an acknov/ledgment of the indepen- 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. lOi 

tlence of the new state. England has encouraged and fo- 
mented the revolt of the colonies as early as June, 1 797. 
Sir Thomas Picton, governor of Trinidad, in virtue of or- 
ders from the British minister of foreign affairs, issued a 
proclamation, in which he expressly assures the inhabitants 
of Terra Firma, that the British government will aid in 
establishing their independence.* In prosecution of the 
same object, Great Britain defrayed the expenses of the 
famous expedition of Miranda. England, in 1811, when she 
was in the most intimate relations with Spain, then strug- 
gling against the French power, assumed the attitude of a 
mediator between the colonies and the peninsula. The terms 
on which she conceived her mediation could alone be ef- 
fectual were rejected by the Cortes, at the lowest state of 
the Spanish power. Among these terms, England required 
for the colonies a perfect freedom of commerce, allowing 
only some degree of preference to Spain; that the appoint- 
ments of viceroys and governors should be made indiscri- 
minately from Spanish Americans and Spaniards; and that 
the interior government and every branch of public ad- 
ministration should be entrusted to the cabildo or munici- 
palities, &c. If Spain, when Spain was almost reduced to 
the island of St. Leon, then rejected those conditions, would 
she now consent to them, amounting, as they do, substan- 
tially to the independence of Spanish America? If England, 
devoted as she was at that time to the cause of the Peninsula, 
even then thought those terms due to the colonies, would 
she now, when no particular motive existed for cherishing 
the Spanish power, and after the ingratitude with which 
Spain has treated her, think that the colonies ought to sub- 
mit to less favourable conditions? And would not England 
stand disgraced in the eyes of the whole world, if, after hav- 
ing abetted and excited a revolution, she should now attempt 
to reduce the colonies to unconditional submission, or should 

* The following' is the passage read: 

" With regard to the hope you entertain of raising the spirits of those 
persons, with whom you are in correspondence, towards encouraging- 
the inhabitants to resist the oppressive authority of their government, 
I have little more to say than that they may be certain that whenever 
they are in that disposition, they may receive at your hands, all the suc- 
cors to be expected from his Brittanic Majesty, be it with forces or with 
arms and ammunition to any extent; with the assurance that the views 
of his Brittanic Majesty go no further than to secure to them their in- 
dependence," Sfc. 



102 ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 

make war upon us for acknowledging that independence 
which she herself sought to establish? 

No guarantee for the conduct of nations or individuals 
ought to be stronger than that which honor imposes; but for 
those who would put no confidence in its obligations, he 
had an argument to urge of more conclusive force. It was 
founded upon the interests of England. Excluded almost 
as she is from the continent, the commerce of America, 
south and north, is worth to her more than the commerce 
of the residue of the world. That, to all Spanish America, 
had been alone estimated at fifteen millions sterling. Its 
aggregate value to Spanish America and the United States, 
might be fairly stated at upwards of one hundred millions of 
dollars. The effect of a war with the two countries would 
be to devest England of this great interest, at a moment 
when she is anxiously engaged in repairing the ravages of 
the European war. Looking to the present moment only, 
and merely to the interests of commerce, England is con- 
cerned more than even this country in the success of the 
cause of independence in Spanish America. The reduction 
of the Spanish power in America has been the constant and 
favourite aim of her policy for two centuries — she must 
blot out her whole history, reverse the maxims of all her 
illustrious statesmen; extinguish the spirit of commerce 
which animates, directs and controls all her movements, 
before she can render herself accessary to the subjugation 
of Spanish America. No commercial advantages which 
Spain might offer by treaty, could possess the security 
for her trade, which independence would communicate. The 
one would be most probably of limited duration, and liable 
to violation from policy, from interest or from caprice. The 
other would be as permanent as independence. That he did 
not mistake the views of the British cabinet, the recent 
proclamation of the prince regent he thought proved. — 
The committee would remark that that document did not 
describe the patriots as rebels or insurgents, but, using a 
term which he had no doubt had been well weighed, it de- 
clared the existence of a "state of warfare." And with 
regard to English subjects, who were in the armies of Spain, 
although they had entered the service without restriction 
as to their military duties, it required that they should not 
take part against the colonies. The subjects of England 
freely supplied the patriots with arms and ammunition, and 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. l03 

an honorable friend of his (Col. Johnson,) had just received 
a letter from one of the West India islands stating the ar- 
rival there from England of the skeletons of three regiments, 
with many of the men to fill them, destined to aid the pa- 
triots. In the Quarterly Review, of November last, a 
journal devoted to the ministry, and a work of the highest 
authority, as it respects their views — the policy of neutrali- 
ty is declared and supported as the true policy of England; 
and that, even if the United States were to take part in the 
war; and Spain is expressly notified that she cannot and 
must not expect aid from England.* In the case of the 
struggle between Spain and her colonies, England, for once 
at least, had manifested a degree of wisdom highly deserv- 
ing our imitation, but unfortunately the very reverse of her 
course had been pursued by us. She had so conducted, by 
operating upon the hopes of the two parties, as to keep on the 
best terms with both — to enjoy all the advantages of the 
rich commerce of both. We had, by a neutrality bill con- 
taining unprecedented features; and still more by a late 
executive measure, to say the least of it, of doubtful con- 
stitutional character, contrived to dissatisfy both parties. 
We had the confidence neither of Spain nor the colonies. 

♦" In arguing therefore for the advantages of a strict neutrality, we 
must enter an early protest against any imputations of hostility to the 
cause of genuine freedom, or of any passion for despotism and the Inqui- 
sition. We are no more the panegyrists of legitimate authority in all 
times, circumstances and situations, than we are advocatesfor revolution 
in the abstract," S(C. " But it has been plausibly asserted, that by ab- 
staining from interference in the affairs of South America we are sur- 
rendering to the United States, all the advantages which might be secured 
to ourselves, from this revolution; that we are assisting to increase the 
trade and power of a nation which alone can ever be the maritime rival 
of England. It appears to us extremely doubtful whether any advantage, 
commercial or political, can be lost to England by a neutral conduct; it 
must be observed that the United States themselves have given every 
public proof of their intention to pursue the same line of policy. But ad- 
mitting that this conduct is nothing more than a decent pretext; or ad- 
mitting still farther, that they will afford to the Independents direct and 
open assistance, our view of the case would remain precisely the same," 
&:c. " To persevere in force, unaided, is to miscalculate her (Spain's) own 
resources, even to infatuation. To expect the aid of an ally in such a 
cause would, if that ally were England, be to suppose this country as for- 
getful of its own past history as of its immediate interests and duties. 
Far better would it be for Spain, instead of calling for our aid, to profit 
by our experience; and to substitute, ere it be too late, for efforts like 
those by which the North American colonies were lost to this country, 
the conciliatory measures by which they might have been retained." 



104 ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 

Mr. Clay said, it remained for him to defend the propo- 
sition which he meant to submit, from an objection, which 
he had heard intimated, that it interfered with the duties 
assigned to the executive branch. On this subject he felt 
the greatest solicitation; for no man more than himself, res- 
pected the preservation of the independence of the several 
departments of government, in the constitutional orbits 
which were prescribed to them. It was his favorite max- 
im, that each, acting within its proper sphere, should move 
with its constitutional independence, and under its constitu- 
tional responsibility, without influence from any other. He 
was perfectly aware, that the constitution of the United 
States, and he admitted the proposition in its broadest sense, 
confided to the executive the reception and the deputation 
of ministers. But in relation to the latter operation, con- 
gress had a current will, in the power of providing for the 
payment of their salaries. The instrument no where said, 
or implied, that the executive act of sending a minister to 
a foreign country should precede the legislative act which 
shall provide for the payment of his salary. And, in point 
of fact, our statutory code was full of examples of legisla- 
tive action prior to executive action, both in relation to the 
deputation of agents abroad, and to the subject matter ot 
treaties. Perhaps the act of sending a minister abroad, and 
the act providing for the allowance of his salary ought to 
be simultaneous; but if, in the order of precedence, there 
were more reason on the one side than on the other, he 
thought it was in favor of the priority of the legislative act, 
as the safer depository of power. VVhen a minister is sent 
abroad, although the legislature may be disposed to think 
his mission useless — although, if previously consulted, they 
would have said they would not consent to pay such a min- 
ister, the duty is delicate and painful to refuse to pay the 
salary promised to him whom the executive has even unne- 
cessarily sent abroad. Mr. C. illustrated his ideas by the 
existing missions to Sweden and to the Netherlands. He 
had no hesitation in saying, that if we had not ministers of 
the first grade there, and if the legislature were asked, pri- 
or to sending them, whether it would consent to pay minis- 
ters of that grade, that he would not and he believed con- 
gress would not, consent to pay them. 

If it be urged that, by avowing our willingness, in a le- 
gislative act, to pay a minister not yet sent, and whom the 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 105 

president may think it improper to send abroad, we operate 
upon the president by all the force of our opinion; it may 
be retorted that when we are called upon to pay any minis- 
ter, sent under similar circumstances, we are operated upon 
by all the force of the president's opinion. The true theory 
of our government, at least supposes that each of the two 
departments, acting on its proper constitutional responsibili- 
ty, will decide according to its best judgment, under all the 
circumstances of the case. If we make the previous ap- 
propriation, we act upon our constitutional responsibility, 
and the president afterwards will proceed upon his. And 
so if he make the previous appointment. We have a right 
after a minister is sent abroad, and we are called upon to pay 
him, and we ought to deliberate upon the propriety of his 
mission — we may and ought to grant or withhold his salary. 
If this power of deliberation is conceded subsequent to the 
deputation of the minister, it must exist prior to that depu- 
tation. Whenever we so deliberate we deliberate under our 
constitutional responsibility. Pass the amendment he pro- 
posed, and it would be passed under that responsibility. 
Then the president, when he deliberated on the propriety 
of the mission, would act under his constitutional responsi- 
bility. Each branch of government, moving in its proper 
sphere, would act with as much freedom from the influence 
of the other as was practically attainable. 

There was great reason, Mr. Clay contended, from the 
peculiar character of the American government, in there 
being a perfect understanding between the legislative and 
executive branches, in relation to the acknowledgment of a 
new power. Every where else the power of declaring war 
resided with the executive. Here it was deposited with 
the legislature. If contrary to his opinion, there were even 
a risk that the acknowledgment of a new state might lead 
to war, it was advisable that the step should not be taken, 
without a previous knowledge of the will of the war-mak- 
ing branch. He was disposed to give to the president all 
the confidence which he must derive from the unequivocal 
expression of our will. This expression he knew might be 
given in the form of an abstract resolution, declaratory of 
that will; but he preferred, at this time, proposing an act of 
practical legislation. And if he had been so fortunate as to 
communicate to the committee, in any thing like that degree 
of strength in which he entertained them, the convictions 
P 



106 ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 

that the cause of the patriots was just; that the character of 
the war, as waged by Spain, should induce us to wish them 
success; that we had a great interest in that success; that 
this interest, as well as our neutral attitude, required us to 
acknowledge any estal)lished government in iSpanish Ameri- 
ca; that the United Provinces of the river Plate was such a 
government; that we might safely acknowledge its indepen- 
dence, without danger of war from Spain, from the allies, 
or from England; and that, without unconstitutional inter- 
ference with the executive power, with peculiar fitness, we 
might express, in an act of appropriation, our sentiments, 
leaving him to the exercise of a just and responsible dis- 
cretion, he hoped the committee would adopt the proposi- 
tion which he had now the honor of presenting to them, 
after a respectful tender of his acknowledgments for their 
attention and kindness, during, he feared, the tedious peri- 
od he had been so unprofitably trespassing upon their pa- 
tience. He offered the following amendment to the bill: 

" For one years salary, and an outfit to a minister to the 
United Provinces of the Riodela Plata, the salary to com- 
mence, and the outfit to be paid, whenever the president 
shall deem it expedient to send a minister to the said Uni- 
ted Provinces, a sum not exceeding eighteen thousand dol- 
lars." 



lor 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

Speech in the Debate on the Resolutions relating to the -'. 
power of Congress to make Roads and Canala; March, 
1818. 

Mr. Clay said, that he had been anxious to catch the 
eye of the chairman for a few moments, to reply to some of 
the observations which had fallen from various gentlemen. 
He was aware that, in doing this, he risked the loss of what 
was of the utmost value, the kind favour of the house, 
wearied as its patience was by this prolonged debate. But, 
when he felt what a deep interest the Union at large, and 
particularly that quarter of it whence he came, had in the 
decision of the present question, he could not omit any op- 
portunity of earnestly urging upon the house the propriety 
of retaining the important power which that question in- 
volved. It will be recollected, said Mr. C. that, if un- 
fortunately there should be a majority both against the ab- 
stract proposition asserting that power, and against its prac- 
tical execution, the power is gone for ever — the question is 
put at rest so long as the Constitution remains as it is; and 
with respect to any amendment, in this particular, he con- 
fessed he utterly despaired. It would be borne in mind, 
that the bill which passed Congress on this subject, at the 
last session, had been rejected by the late president of the 
United States; that at the commencement of the present 
session, the president had communicated his clear opinion, 
after every effort to come to a different conclusion, that 
Congress did not possess the power contended tor, and had 
called upon us to take up the subject in the shape of an 
amendment to the constitution, and, moreover, that the 
predecessor ol the present and late presidents had also in- 
timated his opinion that Congress did not possess the power. 
With the great weight and authority of the opinions of 
these distinguished men against the power, and with the 
fact, solemnly entered upon the record, that this house, 
after a deliberate review of the ground taken by it at the 
last session, had decided against the existence of it, (if such 
fatally should be the decision,) the power, he repeated, was 



108 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

gone — gone for ever, unless restored by an amendment of 
the constitution. With regard to the practicability of ob- 
taining such an amendment, he thought it altogether out of 
the question. Two different descriptions of persons, enter- 
taining sentiments directly opposed, would unite and de- 
feat such an amendment; one embracing those who believed 
that the constitution, fairly interpreted, already conveys 
the power, and, the other, those who think that Congress 
have not, and ought not to have it. As a large portion of 
Congress, and probably a majority, believed the power al- 
ready to exist, it must be evident, if he were right in sup- 
posing that any considerable number of that majority would 
vote against an amendment which they did not believe 
necessary, that any attempt to amend would fail. Con- 
sidering, as he did, the existence of the power as of the first 
importance, not merely to the preservation of the union of 
the States, paramount as that consideration ever should be 
over all others, but to the prosperity of every great interest 
of the country, agriculture, manufactures, commerce; in 
peace and in war, it becomes us, said Mr. C. solemnly and 
deliberately and anxiously to examine the constitution, and 
not to surrender it, if fairly to be collected from a just in- 
terpretation of that instrument. 

With regard to the alarm sought to be created, as to the 
nature of the power, by bringing up the old theme of " State 
rights," he would observe, that if the illustrious persons, 
just referred to, were against us in the construction of the 
constitution, they were on our side as to the harmless and 
beneficial character of the power. For it was not to be 
conceived, that each of them would have recommended an 
amendment to the constitution, if they believed that the 
possession of such a power, by the general government, 
■would be detrimental, much less dangerous, to the inde- 
pendence and liberties of the States. What real ground 
was there for this alarm? Gentlemen had not condescended 
to show how the subversion of the rights of the States was 
to follow from the exercise of the power of internal improve- 
ments by the general government. We contend for the 
power to make roads and canals to distribute the intelligence, 
force, and productions of the country, through all its parts; 
and for such jurisdiction only over them as is necessary to 
their preservation from wanton injury and from gradual de- 
cay. Suppose such a power is maintained, and in full 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. io9 

operation; imagine it to extend to every canal made, or pro- 
posed to be made, and to every post road; how inconsidera- 
ble and insignificant is the power in apolitical point of view, 
limited as it is with regard to place and to purpose, when 
contrasted with the great mass of powers retained by the 
State sovereignties! What a small subtraction from that 
mass! Even upon those roads and canals, the state govern- 
ments, according to our principles, would still exercise juris- 
diction over every possible case arising upon them, whether 
of crime or of contract, or any other human transaction, ex- 
cept only what immediately affected their existence and 
preservation. Thus defined, thus limited, and stript of all 
factitious causes of alarm, Mr. C. would appeal to the dis- 
passionate candour of gentlemen, to say if the power really 
presented any thing frightful in it? With respect to post 
roads, our adversaries admit the right of way in the general 
government. There had been, however, on this question, 
some instances of conflict, which had passed away without 
any serious difficulty. Connecticut, if he had been rightly 
informed, had disputed, at one period, the right of passage 
of the mail on the Sabbath. The general government per- 
sisted in the exercise of the right, and Connecticut herself, 
and every body else, have acquiesced in it. 

The gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. H. Nelson,^ has 
contended, Mr. C. continued, that I do not adhere, in the 
principles of construction which I apply to the constitution, 
to the republican doctrines of 1798, of which that gentleman 
would have us believe he is the constant disciple. Let me 
call the attention of the committee to the celebrated state 
paper to which we both refer for our principles in this re- 
spect — a paper which, although I had not seen it for sixteen 
years, until the gentleman had the politeness to furnish me 
with it during this debate, made such an impression on my 
mind, that I shall never forget the satisfaction with which I 
first perused it. I find that I had used, without having been 
aware of it, when I formerly addressed the committee, al- 
most the identical language employed by Mr. Madison in 
that paper. It will be recollected, that I claimed no right 
to exercise any power under the constitution, unless such 
power was expressly granted, or necessary and proper to 
carry into effect some granted power. I have not sought to 
derive the power from the clause which authorizes Con- 
gress to appropriate money. I have been contented with 



110 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

endeavouring to show, that according to the doctrines of 
1798, that according to the most rigid interpretation which 
any one will put upon the instrument, it is expressly given 
in one case, and fairly deducible in others. [Here Mr. C. 
read sundry passages from Mr. Madison's report to the 
Virginia legislature, in an answer to the resolutions of 
several States, concerning the alien and sedition laws, show- 
ing that there were no powers in the general government 
but what were granted, and that, whenever a power was 
claimed to be exercised by it, such power must be shown 
to be granted, or to be necessary and proper to carry into 
effect one of the specified powers.] It would be remarked, 
Mr. C. said, that Mr. Madison, in his reasoning on the 
constitution, had not employed the language fashionable 
during this debate; he had not said that an implied power 
must be absolutely necessary to carry into effect the specifi- 
ed power, to which it is appurtenant, to enable the general 
government to exercise it. No! Mr. C. said, this was a 
modern interpretation of the constitution. Mr. Madison 
had employed the language of the instrument itself, and had 
only contended that the implied power must be necessary 
and propej- to carry into effect the specified power. He had 
only insisted, that when Congress applied its sound judg- 
ment to the constitution, in relation to implied powers, it 
should be clearly seen that they were necessary and proper 
to effectuate the specified powers. — These, said Mr. Care 
my principles; but they are not those of the gentleman from 
Virginia and his friends on this occasion. They contend 
for a degree of necessity absolute and indispensable; that by 
no possibility could the power be otherwise executed. 

That there are two classes of powers in the constitution, 
Mr. C. believed never to have been controverted by an 
American politician. We can not foresee and provide 
specifically for all contingencies. Man and his language 
are both imperfect. Hence, the existence of construction, 
and of constructive powers. Hence also the rule that a 
grant of the end is a grant of the means. If you amend the 
constitution a thousand times, the same imperfection of our 
nature and our language will attend our new works. There 
are two dangers to which we are exposed. The one is, that 
the general government may relapse into the debility which 
existed in the old confederation, and finally dissolve from 
the want of cohesion. The denial to it of powers plainly 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. m 

conferred, or clearly necessary and proper to execute the 
conferred powers, may produce this effect. And, i think, 
with great deference to the gentlemen on the other side, this 
is the danger to which their principles directly tend. The 
other danger is, that of consolidation by the assumption of 
powers not granted, nor incident to granted powers, or the 
assumption of powers which have been withheld or ex- 
pressly prohibited. This was the danger of the period of 
1798 — 9. For instance — that in direct contradiction to a 
prohibitory clause of the constitution, a sedition act was 
passed; and an alien law was also passed, in equal violation 
of the spirit, if not of the express provisions of the con- 
stitution. It was by such measures that the federal party, 
(if parties might be named,) throwing off the veil, furnished 
to their adversaries the most effectual ground of opposition. 
If they had not passed those acts, he thought it highly pro- 
bable that the current of power would have continued to 
flow in the same channel; and the change of parties in 1801, 
so auspicious to the best interests of this country, as he be- 
lieved, would never have occurred. 

Mr. Clay begged the committee — he entreated the true 
friends of the confederated union of these States, to ex- 
amine this doctrine of State rights, and see to what abusive, 
if not dangerous, consequences it may lead, to what extent 
it had been carried, and how it had varied by the same 
State at different times. In alluding to the state of Mas- 
sachusetts, he assured the gentlemen from that State, and 
particularly the honourable chairman of the committee to 
whom the claim of Massachusetts had been referred, that 
he had no intention to create any prejudice against that 
claim. He hoped that, when the subject was taken up, it 
would be candidly and dispassionately considered, and that 
a decision would be made upon it consistent with the rights 
of the Union and of the State of Massachusetts. The high 
character, amiable disposition, and urbanity of the gentle- 
man, (Mr. Mason, of Massachusetts,) to whom he had 
alluded, would, if he had been otherwise inclined, prevent 
him from endeavouring to make impressions unfavourable 
to the claim, whose justice that gentleman stands pledged 
to manifest. But, in the period of 1798 — 9, what was the 
doctrine promulgated by Massachusetts? It was, that the 
States, in their sovereign capacities, had no right to ex- 
amine into the constitutionality or expediency of the mea- 



112 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

sures of the general government. [Mr. C. here quoted 
several passages from the answer of the State of Massa- 
chusetts to the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions, concern- 
ing the alien and sedition laws, to prove his position.] We 
see here an express disclaimer, on the part of Massachu- 
setts, of any right to decide on the constitutionality or ex- 
pediency of the acts of the general government. But what 
was the doctrine which the same State, in 1813, thought 
proper to proclaim to the world, and that too when the 
Union was menaced on all sides? She not only claimed, 
but exercised, the right which in 1799 she had so solemnly 
disavowed. She claimed the right to judge of the propriety 
of the call made, by the general government, for her militia, 
and she refused the militia called for. There was so much 
plausibility in the reasoning employed by that State in sup- 
port of her modern doctrine of " State rights," that, were it 
not for the unpopularity of the stand she took in the late 
war, or had it been in other times and under other circum- 
stances, she would very probably have escaped a great por- 
tion of that odium which has most justly fallen to her lot. 
The constitution gives to Congress power to provide for 
calling out the militia to execute the laws of the Union, to 
suppress insurrections, and to repel invasions, and in no 
other cases. The militia was called out by the general 
government, during the late war, to repel invasion. Mas- 
sachusetts said, as you have no right to the militia but in 
certain contingencies, she was competent to decide whether 
those contingencies had or had not occurred. And, having 
examined the fact, what then? — She said, all was peace and 
quietness in Massachusetts; no non-execution of the laws — 
no insurrection at home — no invasion from abroad, nor any 
immediate danger of invasion. And, in truth, Mr. C. said, 
he believed there was no actual invasion for nearly two years 
after requisition. Under these circumstances, had it not 
been for the supposed motive of her conduct, he asked if 
the case which Massachusetts made out, would not be ex- 
tremely plausible? He hoped it not necessary for him to 
say, that it was very far from his intention to convey any 
thing like approbation of the conduct of Massachusetts. 
Nol his doctrine was, that the States, as States, have no right 
to oppose the execution of the powers which the general 
government asserts. Any State has undoubtedly the right 
to express its opinion, in the form of resolution or other- 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 113 

wise, and to proceed, by constitutional means, to redress any 
real or imaginary grievance; but it has no right to withhold 
its military aid, when called upon by the high authorities of 
the general government, much less to obstruct the execu- 
tion of a law regularly passed. To suppose the existence 
of such an alarming right, is to suppose, if not disunion it- 
self, such a state of disorder and confusion, as must inevita- 
bly lead to it. 

Mr. C. said, that, greatly as he venerated the state 
which gave him birth, and much as he respected the judges 
of its supreme court, several of whom were his personal 
friends, he was obliged to think that some of the doctrines 
which that state had recently held concerning state rights, 
were fraught with much danger. Had those doctrines been 
asserted during the late war, a large share of the public dis- 
approbation which has been given to Massachusetts, might 
have fallen to Virginia. What were these doctrines? The 
courts of Virginia have asserted that they have a right to 
determine on the constitutionality of any law or treaty of 
the United States, and to expound them according to their 
own views, even if they should vary from the decision of 
the supreme court of the United States. They have as- 
serted more — that from their decision there could be no ap- 
peal to the supreme court of the United States; and that 
there exists in Congress no power to frame a law, obliging 
the court of the state, in the last resort, to submit its de- 
cision to the supervision of the supreme court of the 
United States; or if he did not misunderstand the doctrine, 
to withdraw from the state tribunals, controversies involv- 
ing the laws of the United States, and to place them before 
the federal judiciary. I am a friend, said Mr. C. a true 
friend, to state rights; but not in all cases as they are as- 
serted. The states have their appointed orbit; so has the 
union; and each should be confined within its fair, legiti- 
mate and constitutional sphere. We should equally avoid 
that subtle process of argument which dissipates into air the 
powers of this government, and that spirit of encroachment 
which would snatch from the states, powers not delegated 
to the general government. We shall thus escape both the 
dangers I noticed — that of relapsing into the alarming weak- 
ness of the confederation, which was described as a mere 
rope of sand, and also that other, perhaps not the greatest 
danger, consolidation. No man deprecates more than I do 

Q 



114 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

the idea of consolidation; yet, between separation and con- 
solidation, painfnl as would be the alternative, he would 
greatly prefer the latter. 

Mr. Clay would now proceed to endeavour to discover 
the real difference in the interpretation of the constitution, 
between the gentlemen on the other side and himself. It 
was agreed that there was no power in the general govern- 
ment but that which is expressly granted, or which is im- 
pliable from an express grant. The difference then must 
be in the application of this rule. The gentleman from 
Virginia, who had favoured the House with so able an 
argument on the subject, had conceded, though somewhat 
reluctantly, the existence of incidental powers, but he con- 
tended that they must have a direct and necessary relation 
to some specified power. Granted. But who is to judge 
of this relation? And what rule can you prescribe different 
from that which the constitution has required, that it should 
be necessary and proper? Whatever may be the rule, in 
whatever language you may choose to express it, there must 
be a certain degree of discretion left to the agent who is to 
apply it. But gentlemen are alarmed at this discretion; 
that law of tvrants, to which they contend there is no limita- 
tion. It should be observed, in the first place, that the 
gentlemen are necessarily brought, by the very course of 
reasoning which they themselves employ, by all the rules 
which they would lay down for the constitution, to cases 
where discretion must exist. But is there no limitation, 
no security against the abuse of it? Yes, there is such 
security in the fact of our being members of the same so- 
ciety, equally affected ourselves by the laws we promulgate. 
There is the further security in the oath which is taken to 
support the constitution, and which will tend to restrain 
Congress from deriving powers which are not proper and 
necessary. There is the yet further security, that, at the 
end of every two years, the members must be amenable to 
the people for the manner in which their trust has been per- 
formed. And there remains also that further, though 
awful security, the last resort of society, which he contended 
belonged alike to the people and to the states in their 
sovereign capacity, to be exercised in extreme cases, and 
when oppression becomes intolerable — the right of resis- 
tance. Take the gentleman's own doctrine, (Mr. Barbour,) 
ithe most restricted which had been asserted, and what other 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 115 

securities have we against the abuse of power, than those 
which I have enumerated? Say that there must be an ab- 
solute necessity to justify the exercise of an implied power, 
who is to define that absolute necessity, and then to apply 
it? Who is to be the judge? Where is the security against 
transcending that limit? The rule the gentleman contends 
for, has no greater security than that insisted upon by us. 
It equally leads to the same discretion, a sound discretion, 
exercised under all the responsibility of a solemn oath, of a 
regard to our fair fame, of a knowledge that we are our- 
selves the subjects of those laws which we pass, and lastly, 
of the right of resisting insupportable tyranny. And by 
way of illustration, Mr. C. said, that, if the sedition act had 
not been condemned by the indignant voice of the com- 
munity, the right of resistance would have accrued. If 
Congress assumed the power to control the right of speech, 
and to assail, by penal statutes, that greatest of all the bul- 
warks of liberty, the freedom of the press, and there were 
no other means to arrest their progress, but that to which 
he had referred, lamentable as would be the appeal, such a 
monstrous abuse of power, he contended, would authorize 
a recurrence to that right. 

If, then, the gentlemen on the other side and himself 
differed so little in their general principles, as he thought 
he had shown, he would proceed for a few moments, to look 
at the constitution a little more in detail. I have con- 
tended, said Mr. C- that the power to construct post roads, 
is expressly granted in the power to establish post roads. 
If it be, there is an end of the controversy; but if not, the 
next inquiry is, whether that power may be fairly deduced 
by implication, from any of the specified grants of power. 
To show that the power is expressly granted, I might safely 
appeal to the arguments already used, to prove that the 
word establish ^ in this case, can mean only one thing — the 
right of making. Several gentlemen had contended that 
the word had a diflferent sense; and one had resorted to the 
preamble of the constitution to show that the phrase " to 
establish justice,'' there used, did not convey the power of 
creation. If the word " establish" was there to be taken in 
the sense which gentlemen claimed for it, that of adoption 
or designation, Congress could have had a choice only of 
systems of justice pie-existing. Would any gentleman con- 
tend that they were obliged to take the Justinian code, the 



116 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

Napoleon code, the code of civil, or the code of common or 
canon law? Establishment means, in the preamble, as in 
other cases, construction, formation, creation. Let me ask, 
in all cases of crime, which are merely malum prohzbitum^ 
if you do not resort to construction, to creating, when you 
make the offence? By your laws denouncing certain acts as 
criminal offences, laws which the good of society required 
you to pass, and to adapt to our peculiar condition, vou do 
construct and create a system of rules, to be administered 
by the judiciary. But gentlemen say that the word cannot 
mean moke; that you would not say, for example, to establish 
a ship, to establish a chair. In the application of this, as of 
all other terms, you must be guided by the nature of the 
subject; and if it cannot be properly used in all cases, it 
does not follow that it cannot be in any. And when we 
take into consideration, that, under the old articles of con- 
federation. Congress had over the subject of post roads just 
as much power as gentlemen allow to the existing govern- 
ment, that it v/as the general scope and spirit of the new 
constitution to enlarge the powers of the general govern- 
ment, and that, in fact, in this very clause, the power to 
establish post offices, which was alone possessed, by the 
former government, he thought that he might safely con- 
sider the argument, on this part of the subject, as success- 
fully maintained. With respect to military roads, the con- 
cession that they may be made when called for by the 
emergency, is admitting that the constitution conveys the 
power. And we may safely appeal to the judgment of the 
candid and enlightened, to decide between the wisdom of 
these two constructions, of which one requires you to wait 
for the exercise of your power until the arrival of an emer- 
gency, which may not allow you to exert it; and the other, 
■without denying you the power, if you can exercise it 
during the emergency, claims the right of providing before- 
hand against the emergency. 

One member had stated what appeared to him a con- 
clusive argument against the power to cut canals, that he 
had understood that a proposition made in the convention to 
insert such a power, was rejected. To this argument more 
than one sufficient answer could be made. In the first place 
the fact itself had been denied, and he had never yet seen 
any evidence of it. But suppose that the proposition had 
been made and overruled, unless the motives of the refusal 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 117 

to insert It were known, gentlemen were not authorized to 
draw the inference, that it was from hostility to the power, 
or from a desire to withhold it from Congress, Might not 
one of the objections be, that the power was fairly to be in- 
ferred from some of the specific grants of power, and that it 
was therefore not necessary to insert the proposition: that 
to adopt it indeed might lead to weaken or bring into doubt 
other incidental powers not enumerated? A member from 
New- York, (Mr. Storrs,) whose absence Mr. C regretted 
on this occasion, not only on account of the great aid which 
might have been expected from him, but from the cause of 
that absence, had informed him that, in the convention of 
that state, one of the objections to the constitution by the 
anti federalists was, that it was understood to convey to the 
general government, the power to cut canals. How often, 
in the course of the proceedings of this house, do we reject 
amendments, upon the sole ground that they are not neces- 
sary, the principle of the amendment being already contained 
in the proposition! 

Mr. C. referred to the Federalist, for one moment, to 
show that the only notice taken of that clause of the con- 
stitution which relates to post roads, was favourable to his 
construction. The power, that book said, must always be 
a harmless one> He had endeavoured to show not only that 
it was perfectly harmless, but that every exercise of it must 
be necessarily beneficial. Nothing which tends to facilitate 
intercourse among the states, says the Federalist, can be 
unworthy of the public care. What intercourse? Even if 
restricted on the narrowest theory of gentlemen, on the other 
side, to the intercourse of intelligence, they deny that to us, 
since they will not admit that we have the power to repair 
or improve the way, the right of which they yield us. In 
a more liberal and enlarged sense of the word, it will com- 
prehend all those various means of accomplishing the object, 
which are calculated to render us a homogeneous people — • 
one in feeling, m interest, and affection; as we are one in our 
political relation. 

Was there not a direct and intimate relation between the 
power to make war and military roads and canals? It was 
in vain that the convention should have confided to the 
general government the tremendous power of declaring war 
— should have imposed upon it the duty to employ the 
whole physical means of the nation, to render the war, what- 



118 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

ever may be its character, successful and glorious; if the 
power is withheld of transporting and distributing those 
means. Let us appeal to facts, which are sometimes worth 
volumes of theory. We have recently had a war raging on 
all the four quarters of the Union. The only circumstance, 
which gave me pain at the close of that war, the detention 
of Moose Island, would not have occurred, if we had pos- 
sessed military roads. Why did not the Union — why did 
not Massachusetts, make a struggle to reconquer the island? 
Not for the want of men; nut for the want of patriotism, he 
hoped; but from the want of physical ability to march a 
force sufficient to dislodge the enemy. On the north- 
western frontier, millions of money, and some of the most 
precious blood of the state from which I have the honour to 
come, were wasrefuUy expended for the want of such roads. 
My honourable friend from Ohio, (Gen. Harrison,) who 
commanded the armv in that quarter, could furnish a volume 
of evidence on this subject. What now paralizes our arms 
on the southern frontier, and occasioned the recent mas- 
sacre of fifty of our brave soldiers? What but the want of 
proper means for the communication of intelligence, and for 
the transportation of our resources from point to point? 
Whether we refer to our own experience, or to that of other 
countries, we cannot fail to perceive the great value of 
military roads. Those great masters of the world, the 
Romans, how did they sustain their power so many cen- 
turies, diffusing law and liberty, and intelligence, all around 
them? They made permanent military roads; and among 
the objects of interest, which Europe now presents, are the 
remains of those Roman roads which are shown to the 
curious inquirer. If there were no other monument re- 
maining of the sagacity, and of the illustrious deeds of the 
unfortunate captive of St. Helena, the internal improve- 
ments which he made, the road from Hamburgh to Basle, 
would perpetuate his memory to future ages. In making 
these allusions, let me not be misunderstood. I do not de- 
sire to see military roads established for the purpose of 
conquest, but of defence; and as a part of that preparation 
which should be made in a season of peace for a season of 
war, I do not wish to see this country ever in that complete 
state of preparation for war, for which some contend; that 
is, that we should constantly have a large standing army, 
well disciplined, and always ready to act. I want to see 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. HO 

the bill, reported by my friend from Ohio, or some other 
embracing an effective militia system, passed into a law; 
and a chain of roads and canals, by the aid of which our 
physical means can be promptly transported to any required 
point. These, connected with a small military establish- 
ment to keep up our forts and garrisons, constitute the kind 
of preparation for war, which, it appeared to him, this 
country ought to make. No man, who has paid the least 
attention to the operations of modern war, can have failed 
to remark how essential good roads and canals are to the 
success of those operations. How often have battles been 
won by celerity and rapidity of movement? It was one of 
the most essential circumstances in war. But, without good 
roads, it was impossible! He recalled to the recollection of 
some of the members, the fact that, in the Senate, several 
years ago, an honourable friend of his, (Mr. Bayard,) whose 
premature death he ever deplored — who was an ornament 
to the councils of his country; and whom, when abroad, he 
found the able and fearless advocate of her rights — had, in 
supporting a subscription which he proposed the United 
States should make to the stock of the Delaware and Chesa- 
peake canal company, earnestly recommended the measure 
as connected with our operations in war. I listened to my 
friend with some incredulity, and thought he pushed his 
argument too far. I had, soon after, a practical evidence 
of its justness. For, in travelling from Philadelphia, in the 
fall of 1813, 1 saw transporting, by government, from Elk 
river to the Delaware, large quantities of massy timbers for 
the construction of the Guerriere or the Franklin, or both; 
and judging from the number of wagons and horses, and 
the number of days employed, I believe the additional ex- 
pense of that single operation, would have gone very far to 
complete that canal, whose cause was espoused with so 
much eloquence in the Senate, and with so much effect, too; 
bills having passed that body more than once to give aid, 
in some shape or other, to that canal. With notorious facts 
like this, was it obvious that a line of military canals was 
not only necessary and proper, but almost indispensable to 
the war-making power? 

One of the rules of construction, Mr. C. continued, 
which had been laid down, he acknowledged his incapacity 
to comprehend. Gentlemen say that the power in question 
is a substantive power; and that no substantive power could 



120 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

be derived by implication. What is their definition of a 
substantive power? Will they favour us with the principle 
of discrimination between powers which, being substantive, 
are not grantable but by express grant, and those which, not 
being substantive, may be conveyed by implication? Al- 
though he did not perceive why this power was more en- 
titled than many implied powers to the denomination of 
substantive, suppose that he yielded, how did gentlemen 
prove that it may not be conveyed by implication? If the 
positions were maintained, which have not yet been proven, 
that the power is substantive, and that no substantive power 
can be implied, yet he trusted it had been satisfactorily 
shown that there was an express grant. 

His honourable friend from Virginia (Mr. Nelson) had 
denied the operation of executive influence on his mindj 
and had informed the committee, that from that quarter he 
had nothing to expect, to hope, or to fear. [ did not im- 
pute to my honourable friend any such motive; I know his 
independence of chaiacter and of mind, too well to do so. 
But, 1 entreat him to reflect, if he dots not expose himself 
to such an imputation by those kss friendly disposed to- 
wards him than myself. Let us look a little at facts. The 
president recommended the establishment of a bank. If 
ever there were a stretch of the implied powers, conveyed 
by the constitution, it has been thoucht that the grant of 
the charter of the National Bank was one. But the presi- 
dent recommends it. Where was then my honourable 
friend, the friend of state rights, who so pathetically calls 
upon us to repent, in sackcloth and ashes, our meditated 
violation of the constitution; and who kindlv expresses his 
hope that zve shall be made to feel the public indignation? 
Where was he at this awful epoch? Where was that elo- 
quent tongue which we have now heard with so much plea- 
sure? Silent! silent as the grave. 

[Mr. N. said, across the house, that he voted against 
the bank bill, when first recommended.] 

Alas! said Mr. C. my honourable friend had not the 
heart to withstand a second recommendation from the presi- 
dent: but, when it came, yielded, no doubt, most reluctantly 
to the executive wishes, and voted for the bank. At the 
last session of Congress, Mr. Madison recommends (and I 
will presently make some remarks on that subject,) an ex- 
ercise of all the existing powers of the general government 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 121 

to establish a comprehensive system of internal improve- 
ments. Where was my honourable friend on that occasion? 
Not silent as the grave, but he gave a negative vote almost 
as silent. No effort was made on his part, great as he is 
when he exerts the powers of his well stored mind, to save 
the commonwealth from that greatest of all calamities, a 
system of internal improvement. No, although a war with 
all the allies, he now thinks, would be less terrible than the 
adoption of this report, not one word then dropt from his 
lips against the measure. [Mr. Nelson said he voted 
against the bill.] That he whispered out an unwilling nega- 
tive, Mr. C. did not deny; but it was unsustained by that 
torrent of eloquence which was poured out on the present 
occasion. But, said Mr. C. we have an executive message 
now, not quite as ambiguous in its terms, nor as oracular in 
its meaning, as that of Mr. Madison appears to have been. 
No! the president now says, that he has made great efforts 
to vanquish his objections to the power, and that he cannot 
but believe that it does not exist. Then my honourable 
friend rouses, thunders forth the danger in which the con- 
stitution is, and sounds aloud the tocsin of alarm. Far from 
insinuating that he is at all biassed by the executive wishes, 
I appeal to his candour to say, if there is not a remarkable 
coincidence between his zeal and exertions, and the opinions 
of the chief magistrate? 

Now let us review those opinions, as communicated at 
different periods. It was the opinion of Mr. Jefferson, that, 
although there was no general power vested, by the con- 
stitution, in Congress, to construct roads and canals, with- 
out the consent of the states, yet such a power might be ex- 
ercised with their assent. Mr. Jefferson not only held this 
opinion in the abstract, but he practically executed it, in the 
instance of the Cumberland road, and how? First by a 
compact made with the state of Ohio, for the application of 
a specified fund, and then by compacts with Virginia, 
Pennsylvania and Maryland, to apply the fund so set apart 
within their respective limits. If, however, I rightly un- 
derstood my honourable friend, the other day, he expressly 
denied, (and in that I concur with him,) that the power 
could be acquired by the mere consent of the state. Yet 
he defended the act of Mr. Jefferson, in the case referred 
to. [Mr. Nelson expressed his dissent to this statement of 
his argument.] Mr. C. said it was far from his intention 
R 



122 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

to mis-state the gentleman. He certainly had understood 
him to say, that, as the road was first stipulated for in the 
compact with Ohio, it was competent afterwards to carry it 
through the states mentioned, with their assent. Now, if 
we have not the right to make a road in virtue of one com- 
part made with 3 single state, can we obtain it by two con- 
tracts made with several states? The character of the fund 
could not affect the question. It was totally immaterial 
whether it arose from the sales of the public lands or from 
the general revenue. Suppose a contract, made with Mas- 
sachusetts, that a certain portion of the revenue, collected 
at the port of Boston from foreign trade, should be ex- 
pended in making roads and canals leading to that state; 
and that a subsequent compact should be made with Con- 
necticut, or New-Hampshire, for the expenditure of the 
fund on these objects within their limits. Can we acquire 
the power, in this manner, over internal improvements, if 
we do not possess it independently of such compacts? He 
conceived clearly not. And he was entirely at a loss to 
comprehend how gentlemen, consistently with their own 
principles, could justify the erection of the Cumberland 
road. No man, he said, was prouder than he was, of that 
noble monument of the provident care of the nation, and of 
the public spirit of its projectors; and he trusted, that, in 
spite of all constitutional and other scruples, here or else- 
where, an appropriation would be made to complete that 
road. He confessed, however, freely, that he was entirely 
unable to conceive of any principle on which that road could 
be supported, that would not uphold the general power con- 
tended for. 

He would now examine the opinion of Mr. Madison. 
Of all the acts of that pure, virtuous and illustrious states- 
man, whose administration has so powerfully tended to ad- 
vance the glory, honour and prosperity of this country, he 
most regretted, for his sake and for the sake of the country, 
the rejection of the bill of the last session. He thought it 
irreconcileable with Mr. Madison's own principles — those 
great, broad and liberal principles, on which he so ably ad- 
ministered the government. And, sir, said Mr. C when I 
appeal to the members of the last Congress, who are now 
in my hearing, I am authorized to say, with regard to the 
majority of them, that no circumstance, not even an earth- 
quake that should have swallowed up one half of this city, 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 123 

could have excited more surprise than when it was first 
communicated to this house, that Mr. Madison had re- 
jected his own bill — I say his own bill: for his message at 
the opening of the session meant nothing, if it did not re- 
commend such an exercise of power as was contained in 
that bill. My friend, who is near me, (Mr. Johnson, of 
Virginia,) the operations of whose vigorous and indepen- 
dent mind depend upon his own internal perceptions, has 
expressed himself with a becoming manliness, and thrown 
aside the authority of names, as having no bearing with 
him on the question. But their authority has been refer- 
red to, and will have influence with others. It was im- 
possible, moreover, to disguise the fact, that the question is 
now a question between the executive on the one side, and 
the representatives of the people on the other. So it is un- 
derstood in the country, and such is the fact. Mr. Madi- 
son enjoys, in his retreat at Montpelier, the repose and the 
honours due to his eminent and laborious public services; 
and I would be among the last to disturb it. However 
painful it is to me to animadvert upon any of his opinions, 
I feel perfectly sure, that the circumstance can only be view- 
ed by him with an enlightened liberality. What are the 
opinions which have been expressed by Mr. Madison on 
this subject? I will not refer to all the messages wherein 
he has recommended internal improvements; but to that 
alone which he addressed to Congress at the commence- 
ment of the last session, which contains this passage: " I 
particularly invite again the attention of Congress to the 
expediency of exercising their existing- powers, and, where 
necessary, of resorting to the prescribed mode of enlarging 
them, in order to eff^ectuate a comprehensive sijstein of roads 
and canals, such as will have the effect of drawing more 
closely together every part of our country, by promoting 
intercourse and improvements, and by increasing the share 
of every part in the common stock of national prosperity." 
In the examination of this passage, two positions forced 
themselves upon our attention. The first was, the asser- 
tion, that there are existing powers in Congress to effectuate 
a comprehensive system of roads and canals, the effect of 
which would be to draw the different parts of the country 
more closely together. And I would candidly admit, in 
the second place, that it was intimated, thai in the exercise 
of those existing powers, some detect niight be discovered, 



124 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

which would render an amendment of the constitution 
necessary. Nothing could be more clearly affirmed than 
the first position; but in the message of Mr. Madison re- 
turning the bill, passed in consequence of his recommenda- 
tion, he has not specified a solitary case to which those ex- 
isting powers are applicable; he hns not told us what he 
meant by those existing powers; and the general scope of 
his reasoning, in that message, if well founded, proved that 
there were no existing powers whatever. It was apparent 
that Mr. Madison himself had not examined some of those 
principal sources of the constitution from which, during 
this debate, the power had been derived. I deeply regret, 
and I know that Mr. Madison regretted, that the circum- 
stances under which the bill was presented him, (the last 
day but one of a most busy session,) deprived him of an op- 
portunity of that thorough investigation, of which no man 
is more capable. It is certain, that, taking his two mes- 
sages at the same session together, they are perfectly ir- 
reconcileable. What, moreover, was the nature of that 
bill? It did not apply the money to any specific object of 
internal improvement, nor designate any particular mode in 
which it should be applied, but merely set apart and pledged 
the fund to the general purpose, subject to the future dis- 
position of Congress. If, then, there were any supposable 
case whatever, to which Congress might apply money in 
the erection of a road, or cutting a canal, the bill did not 
violate the constitution. And it ought not to have been 
anticipated, that money constitutionally appropriated by 
one Congress, would afterwards be unconstitutionally ex- 
pended by another. 

I come now, said Mr. C. to the message of Mr. Monroe; 
and it, by the communication of his opinion to Congress, he 
intended to prevent discussions, he has most wofuUy failed, 
I know that, according to a most venerable and excellent 
usage, the opinion, neither of the president nor of the 
senate, upon any proposition depending in this house, ought 
to be adverted to. Even in the parliament of Great 
Britain, a member who would refer to the opinion of the 
sovereign, in such a case, would be instantly called to order: 
but under the extraordinary circumstances of the president 
having, with, I have no doubt, the best motives, volunteer- 
ed his opinion on this head, and inverted the order of legis- 
lation by beginning where it should end, I am compelled, 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 125 

most reluctantly, to refer to that opinion. I cannot but 
deprecate the practice of which the president has, in this 
instance, set the example to his successors. The constitu- 
tional order of legislation supposes that every bill originat- 
ing in one house, shall be there deliberately investigated, 
without influence from any other branch of the legislature; 
and then remitted to the other house for a like free and un- 
biassed consideration. Having passed both houses, it is to 
be laid before the president; signed, if approved, and, if 
disapproved, to be returned, with his objections, to the 
originating house. In this manner, entire freedom of 
thought and of action is secured, and the president finally 
sees the proposition in the most matured form which Con- 
gress can give to it. The practical effect, to say no more, 
of forestalling the legislative opinion, and telling us what 
we may or may not do, will be to deprive the president 
himself of the opportunity of considering a proposition so 
matured, and us of the benefit of his reasoning applied 
specifically to such proposition. For the constitution fur- 
ther enjoins it upon him to state his objections upon re- 
turning the bill. The originating house is then to recon- 
sider it, and deliberately to weigh those objections; and it 
is further required, when the question is again taken, shall 
the bill pass, those objections notwithstanding? that the 
votes shall be solemnly spread, by ayes and noes, upon the 
record. Of this opportunity of thus recording our opinions, 
on matters of great public concern, we are deprived, if we 
submit to the innovation of the president. I will not press 
this part of the subject further. I repeat, again and again, 
that I have no doubt but that the president was actuated 
by the purest motives. I am compelled, however, in the 
exercise of that freedom of opinion, which, so long as I 
exist, I will maintain, to say that the proceeding is irregular 
and unconstitutional. Let us, however, examine the rea- 
soning and opinion of the president. [Mr. C. here quoted 
the passage of the message at the opening of the session, 
which follows:] 

" A difference of opinion has existed from the first forma- 
tion of our constitution to the present time, among our 
most enlightened and virtuous citizens, respecting the right 
of Congress to establish such a system of improvement. 
Taking into view the trust with which I am now honoured, 
it would be improper, after what has passed, that this dis- 



126 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

cussion should be revived, with an uncertainty of my opi- 
nion respecting the right. Disregarding early impressions, 
I have bestowed on the subject all the deliberation which 
its great importance and a just sense of my duty required, 
and the result is, a settled conviction in my mind that Con- 
gress do not possess the right. It is not contained in any 
of the specified powers granted to Congress; nor can I con- 
sider it incidental to, or a necessary mean, viewed on the 
most liberal scale, for carrying into effect any of the powers 
which are specifically granted. In communicating this re- 
sult, I cannot resist the obligation which I feel, to suggest 
to Congress the propriety of recommending to the states 
the adoption of an amendment to the Constitution, which 
shall give the right in question. In cases of doubtful con- 
struction, especially of such vital interest, it comports with 
the nature and origin of our institutions, and will contribute 
much to preserve them, to apply to our constituents for an 
explicit grant of the power. We may confidently rely, that, 
if it appears to their satisfaction that the power is necessary, 
it will always be granted." 

In this passage, the president has furnished us with no 
reasoning, no argument, in support of his opinion — nothing 
addressed to the understanding. He gives us, indeed, aa 
historical account of the operations of bis own mind, and 
he asserts that he has made a laborious effort to conquer 
his early impressions, but that the result is a settled con- 
viction against the power, without a single reason. In his 
position, that the power must be specifically granted, or in- 
cident to a power so granted, it has been seen that I have 
the honour to entirely concur with him; but he says the 
power is not among the specified powers. Has he taken 
into consideration the clause respecting post roads, and told 
us how and why that does not convey the power? If he 
had acted within what I conceive to be his constitutional 
sphere of rejecting the bill, after it had passed both houses, 
he must have learnt that great stress was placed on that 
clause, and we should have been enlightened by his com- 
ments upon it. As to his denial of the power, as an inci- 
dent to any of the express grants, Mr. C. said, he would 
have thought that we might have safely appealed to the ex- 
perience of the president, during the late war, when the 
country derived so much benefit from his judicious ad- 
ministration of the duties of the war department, whether 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. i27 

roads and canals for military purposes were not essential to 
celerity and successful result in the operations of armies. 
This part of the message was all assertion, and contained 
no argument which he could comprehend, or which met the 
points contended for during this debate. Allow me here, 
said Mr. C. to say, and I do it without the least disrespect 
to that branch of the government, on whose opinions and 
acts it has been rendered my painful duty to comment; let 
me say, in reference to any man, however elevated his sta- 
tion, even if he be endowed with the power and preroga- 
tives of a sovereign, that his acts are worth infinitely more, 
and are more intelligible, than mere paper sentiments or 
declarations. And what have been the acts of the presi- 
dent? During his tour of the last summer, did he not 
order a road to be cut or repaired from near Plattsburg to 
the St. Lawrence? And my honourable friend will excuse 
me, if my comprehension is too dull to perceive the force 
of that argument which seeks to draw a distinction between 
repairing an old and making a new road. [Mr. Nelson 
said he had not drawn that distinction, having only stated 
the fact.] Certainly no such distinction was to be found in 
the constitution, or existed in reason. Grant, however, 
the power of reparation, and we will make it do. We will 
take the post roads, sinuous as they are, and put them in a 
condition to enable the mails to pass, without those mortify- 
ing and painful delays and disappointments, to which we, 
at least in the west, are so often liable. The president 
then, ordered a road of considerable extent to be construct- 
ed or repaired, on his sole authority, in a time of profound 
peace, when no enemy threatened the country, and when, 
in relation to the power as to which alone that road could 
be useful in time of war, there existed the best understand- 
ing, and a prospect of lasting friendship greater than at any 
former period. On his sole authority the president acted, 
and we are already called upon by the chairman of the 
committee of ways and means to sanction the act by an ap- 
propriation. This measure has been taken, too, without 
the consent of the state of New- York; and what is wonder- 
ful, when we consider the magnitude of the state rights 
which are said to be violated, Vt^ithout even a protest on the 
part of that state against it. On the contrary, I under- 
stand, from some of the military officers who are charged 
with the execution of the work, what is very extraordinary,* 



128 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

that the people, through whose quarter of the country the 
road passes, do not view it as a national calamity; that they 
would be very glad that the president would visit them 
often, and thai he would order a road to be cut and im- 
proved, at the national expense, every time he should visit 
them. Other roads, in other parts of the Union, have, it 
seems, been likewise ordered, or their execution, at the 
public expense, sanctioned, by the executive, without the 
concurrence of Congress. If the president has the power 
to cause those public improvements to be executed, at his 
pleasure, whence is it derived? If any member will stand 
up in his place and say, the president is clothed with this 
authority, and that it is denied to Congress, let ua hear from 
himj and let him point to the clause of the constitution, 
which vests it in the executive and withholds it from the 
legislative branch. 

There is no such clause; there is no such exclusive 
executive power. The power is derivable by the executive 
only from those provisions of the constitution, which charge 
him with the duties of commanding the physical force of 
the country, and the employment of that force in war, and 
the preservation of the public tranquillity, and in the execu- 
tion of the laws. But Congress has paramount power to 
the president. It alone can declare war, can raise armies, 
can provide for calling out the militia, in the specified in- 
stances, and can raise and appropriate the ways and means 
necessary to these objects. Or is it come to this, that there 
are to be two rules of construction for the constitution^ 
one, an enlarged rule, for the executive — and another, a re- 
stricted rule, for the legislature? Is it already to be held, 
that, according to the genius and nature of our constitu- 
tions, powers of this kind may be safely entrusted to the 
executive, but, when attempted to be exercised by the 
legislature, are so alarming and dangerous, that a war 
with all the allied powers would be less terrible, and that 
the nation should clothe itself straightway in sackcloth and 
ashes? No, sir, it the power belongs only by implication 
to the chief magistrate, it is placed both by implication and 
express grant in the hands of Congress. I am so far from 
condemning the act of the president, to which I have re- 
ferred, that I think it deserving of high approbation. That 
it was within the scope of his constitutional authority, I 
have no doubt: and 1 sincerely trust that the secretary at 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. jaQ 

War will, in time of peace, constantly employ in that way, 
the military force. It will, at the same time, guard that 
force against the vices incident to indolence and inaction, 
and correct the evil of subtracting from the mass of the 
labour of society, where labour is more valuable than in any- 
other country, that portion of it which enters into the com- 
position of the army. Bat I most solemnly protest against 
any ext-rcise of powers of this kind, by the president, which 
art- denied to Congress. And, if the opinions expressed by 
him, in his message, were communicated, or are to be used 
here, to influence the judgment of the house, their authority 
is more than countervailed by the authority of his deliberate 
acts. 

Some principles drawn from political economists have 
been alluded to, and we are advised to leave things to them- 
selves, upon the ground that, when the condition of society 
IS ripe for internal improvements, that is, when capital can 
be, so invested with a fair prospect of adequate remunera- 
tion, they will be executed by associations of individuals, 
unaided by government. With my friend from South 
Carolina, (Mr. Lowndes,) I concur in this as a general 
maxim; and I also concur with him, that there are excep- 
tions to it. The foreign policy which I think this country 
ought to adopt, presents one of those exceptions. It would 
perhaps be better for mankind, if, in the intercourse be- 
tween nations, all would leave skill and industry to their 
unstimulated exertions. But this is not done; and if other 
powers will incite the industry of their subjects, and depress 
that of our citizens, in instances where they may come into 
competition, we must imitate their selfish example. Hence 
the necessity to protect our manufactures. In regard to 
internal improvements, it did not always follow that they 
would be constructed whenever they would afford a com- 
petent dividend upon the capital invested. It may be true 
generally, that, in old countries, where there is a great ac- 
cumulation ot surplus capital, and a consequent low rate of 
interest, they would be made. But in a new country, 
the condition of society may be ripe for public works long 
before there is, in the hands of individuals, the necessary 
accumulation of capital to effect them; and, besides, there is 
generally, in such a country, not only a scarcity of capital, 
but such a multiplicity of profitable objects presenting them- 
selves as to distract the judgment. Further — th? ;;ggregate 
S 



130 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

benefit resulting to the whole society, from a public im- 
provement, may be such as to amply justify the investment 
of capital in its execution; and yet that benefit may be so 
distributed among diiferent and distant persons, as that 
they can never be got to act in concert. The turnpike 
roads wanted to pass the Allegany mountains, and the 
Delaware and Chesapeake canal, are objects of this de- 
scription. Tiiose who would be most benefited by these 
improvements, reside at a considerable distance from the 
sites of them; many of those persons never have seen and 
never will see them. How is it possible to regulate the 
contributions, or to present to individuals so situated, a 
sufficiently lively picture of their real interests to get them 
to make exertions, in effecting the object, commensurate 
with their respective abilities? I think it very possible that 
the capitalist, who should invest his money in one of those 
objects, might not be reimbursed three per centum annually 
upon it. And yet society, in various forms, might actually 
reap fifteen or twenty per centum. The benefit resulting from 
a turnpike road, made by private associations, is divided 
between the capitalist who receives his tolls, the lands 
through which it passes, and which are augmented in their 
value, and the commodities whose value is enhanced by the 
diminished expense of transportation. A combination upon 
any terms, much less a just combination, of all these in- 
terests to effect the improvement, is impracticable. And 
if you await the arrival of the period when the tolls alone 
can produce a competent dividend, it is evident that you 
will have to suspend its execution until long after the gene- 
ral interests of society would have authorized it. 

Again, improvements made by private associations are 
generally made by the local capital. But ages must elapse 
before there will be concentrated in certain places, where 
the interests of the whole community may call for improve- 
ments, sufficient capital to make them. The place of the 
improvement too is not always the most interested in its 
accomplishment. Other parts of the union — the whole 
line of the seaboard — are quite as much, if not more, in- 
terested in the Delaware and Chesapeake canal, as the 
small tract of country through which it is proposed to pass. 
The same observation will apply to turnpike roads passing 
through the Allegany mountain. Sometimes the interest of 
the place of the improvement, is adverse to the improve - 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 131 

ment and to the general interest. He would cite Louisville, 
at the rapids of the Ohio, as an example, whose interest 
will probably be more promoted by the continuance, than 
the removal of the obstruction. Of all the modes in which 
a government can employ its surplus revenue, none is more 
permanently beneficial than that of internal improvement. 
Fixed to the soil, it becomes a durable part of the land it- 
self, diffusing comfort and activity and animation on all 
sides. The first direct effect was on the agricultural com- 
munity, into whose pockets came the difference in the 
expense of transportation, between good and bad ways. 
Thus, if the price of transporting a barrel of flour by the 
erection of the Cumberland turnpike should be lessened two 
dollars, the producer of the article would receive that two 
dollars more now than formerly. 

But, putting aside all pecuniary considerations, there may 
be political motives sufficiently powerful alone to justify 
certain internal improvements. Does not our country pre- 
sent such? How are they to be effected, if things are left 
to themselves? I will not press the subject further. I am 
but too sensible how much I have abused the patience of 
the committee, by trespassing so long upon its attention. 
The magnitude of the question, and the deep interest I feel 
in its rightful decision, must be my apology. We are now 
making the last effort to establish our power; and I call on 
the friends of Congress, of this house, or the true friends of 
state rights, (not charging others with intending to oppose 
them,) to rally round the constitution, and to support, by 
their votes on this occasion, the legitimate powers of the 
legislature. If we do nothing this session but pass an ab- 
stract resolution on the subject, I shall, under all circum- 
stances, consider it a triumph for the best interests of the 
country, of which posterity will, if we do not, reap the 
benefit. I trust, that by the decision which shall be given, 
we shall assert, uphold and maintain, the authority of Con- 
gress, notwithstanding* all that has been or may be said 
against it. 



132 



ON THE SEMINOLK WAR. 



Speech on the Seminole War^ delivered in the House of Re-- 
presentatives, January. 1819. 

Mr. Chairman, "" ' 

In rising to address you, sir, on the very interesting sub- 
ject which now engages the attention of congress, I must 
be allowed to say, that all inferences drawn fiom the course, 
which it will be my painful duty to take in this discussion, 
of unfriendlmess either to the chief magistrate of the coun- 
try, or to the illustrious military chieftain, whose operations 
are under investigation, will be wholly unfounded. Towards 
that distinguished captain, who shed so much glory on our 
country, whose renown constitutes so great a portion of its 
moral property, I never had, I never can have any other 
feelings than those of the most profound respect, and of the 
utmost kindness. With him my acquaintance is very limited, 
but, so far as it has extended, it has been of the most ami- 
cable kind. I know, said Mr. C. the motives which have 
been, and which will again be attributed to me, in regard to 
the other exalted personage alluded to. They have been, 
and will be unfounded. I have no interest, other than that 
of seeing the concerns of my country well and happily ad- 
ministered. It is infinitely more gratifying to behold the 
prosperity of my country advancing by the wisdom of the 
measures adopted to promote it, than it would be to expose 
the errors which may be committed, if there be any, in the 
conduct of its affairs. Mr. C. said, little as had been his 
experience in public life, it had been sufficient to teach him 
that the most humble station is surrounded by difficulties 
and embarrassments. Rather than throw obstructions in the 
way of the president, he would precede him, and pick out 
those, if he could, which might jostle him in his progress — 
he would sympathize with him in his embarrassments and 
commiserate with him in his misfortunes. It was true, that 
it had been his mortification to differ with that gentleman 
on several occasions. He might be again reluctantly com- 
pelled to differ with him; but he would with the utmost 
sincerity assure the committee that he had formed no reso- 
lution, come under no engagements, and that he never would 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. I33 

form any resolution, or contract any engagements, for sys- 
tematic opposition to his administration, or to that of any 
other chief magistrate. 

Mr. Clay begged leave further to premise that the sub- 
ject under consideration, presented two distinct aspects, 
susceptible, in his judgment, of the most clear and precise 
discrimination. The one he would call its foreign, the other 
its domestic aspect. In regard to the first, he would say, 
that he approved entirely of the conduct of his government, 
and that Spain had no cause of complaint. Having violated 
an important stipulation of the treaty of 1795, that power 
had justly subjected herself to all the consequences which 
ensued upon the entry into her dominions, and it belonged 
not to her to complain of those measures which resulted 
from her breach of contract; still less had she a right to ex- 
amine into the considerations connected with the domestic 
aspect of the subject. 

What were the propositions before the committee? The 
first in order was that reported by the military committee, 
which asserts the disapprobation of this house, of the pro- 
ceedings in the trial and execution of Arbuthnot and Am- 
brister. The second, being the first contained in the pro- 
posed amendment, was the consequence of that disapproba- 
tion, and contemplates the passage of a law to prohibit the 
execution hereafter, of any captive, taken by the army, with- 
out the approbation of the president. The third proposition 
was, that this house disapproves of the forcible seizure of 
the Spanish posts, as contrary to orders, and in violation of 
the constitution. The fourth proposition, as the result of 
the last, is, that a law should pass to prohibit the march of 
the army of the United States, or any corps of it, into any 
foreign territory, without the previous authorization of 
congress, except it be in fresh pursuit of a defeated enemy. 
The first and third were general propositions, declaring the 
sense of the house, in regard to the evils pointed out: and 
the second and fourth proposed the legislative remedies 
against the recurrence of those evils. 

It would be at once perceived, Mr. C. said, by this sim- 
ple statement of the propositions, that no other censure was 
proposed against general Jackson himself, than what was 
merely consequential. His name even did not appear in any 
one of the resolutions. The legislature of the country, in 
reviewing the state of the union, and considering the events 



J 34 ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

which have transpired since its last meeting, finds that par- 
ticular occurrences, of the greatest moment, in many res- 
pects, had taken place near our southern border. He would 
add, that the house had not sought, by any officious inter- 
ference with the duties of the executive, to gain jurisdic- 
tion over this matter. The president, in his message at the 
opening of the session, communicated the very information 
on which it was proposed to act. He would ask, for what 
purpose? That we should fold our arms and yield a tacit 
acquiescence, even if we supposed that information disclosed 
alarming events, not merely as it regards the peace of the 
country, but in respect to its constitution and character? 
Impossible. In communicating these papers, and voluntarily 
calling the attention of congress to the subject, the president 
must himself have intended that we should apply any rem- 
edy that we might be able to devise. Having the subject 
thus regularly and fairly before us, and proposing merely 
to collect the sense of the house upon certain important 
transactions which it discloses, with the view to the passage 
of such laws as may be demanded by the public interest, 
he repeated, that there was no censure any where, except 
such as was strictly consequential upon our legislative ac- 
tion. The supposition of every new law, having for its ob- 
ject to prevent the recurrence of evil, is, that something has 
happened which ought not to have taken place, and no 
other than this indirect sort of censure would flow from the 
resolutions before the committee. 

Having thus given his view of the nature and character 
of the propositions under consideration, Mr. C. said, he 
was far from intimating, that it was not his purpose to go 
into a full, a free, and a thorough investigation of the facts, 
and of the principles of law, public, municipal and consti- 
tutional, involved in ihem. And, whilst he trusted he should 
speak with the decorum due to the distinguished officers of 
the government, whose proceedings were to be examined, 
he should exercise the independence which belonged to him 
as a representative of the people, in freely and fully sub- 
mitting his sentiments. 

In noticing the painful incidents of this war, it was im- 
possible not to inquire into its origin. He feared that it 
would be found to be the famous treaty of Fort Jackson, 
concluded in August, 1814; and he asked the indulgence of 
the chairman, that the clerk might read certain parts of 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR I35 

that treaty. (The clerk having read as requested, Mr. C. 
proceeded.) He had never perused this instrument until 
within a few days past, and he had read it with the deepest 
mortification and regret. A more dictatorial spirit he had 
never seen displayed in any instrument. He would chal- 
lenge an examination of all the records of diplomacy, not 
excepting even those in the most haughty period of impe- 
rial Kome, when she was carrying her arms into the barba- 
rian nations, that surrounded her; and he did not believe a 
solitary instance could be found of such an inexorable spirit 
of domination pervading a compact purporting to be a treaty 
of peace. It consisted of the most severe and humiliating 
demands — of the surrender of large territory — of the privi- 
lege of making roads through the remnant which was re- 
tained — of the right of establishing trading houses — of the 
obligation of delivering into our hands their prophets. And 
all this, of a wretched people, reduced to the last extremity 
of distress, whose miserable existence we had to preserve by 
a voluntary stipulation, to furnish them with bread! When 
did the all conquering and desolating Rome ever fail to re- 
spect the altars and the gods of those whom she subjugated! 
Let me not be told that these prophets were impostors who 
deceived the Indians. They were their prophets — the In- 
dians believed and venerated them, and it is not for us to 
dictate a religious belief to them. It does not belong to the 
holy character of the religion which we profess, to carry its 
precepts, by the force of the bayonet, into the bosoms of 
other people. Mild and gentle persuasion was the great in- 
strument employed by the meek Founder of our religion. 
We leave to the humane and benevolent efforts of the re- 
verend professors of Christianity to convert from barbarism 
those unhappy nations yet immersed in its gloom. But, sir, 
spare them their prophets! spare their delusions! spare their 
prejudices and superstitions! spare them even their religion, 
such as it is, from open and cruel violence. When, sir, was 
that treaty concluded? On the very day, after the protocol 
was signed, of the first conference between the American 
and British commissioners, treating of peace, at Ghent. In 
the coutse of that negociation, pretensions so enormous 
were set up, by the other party, that, when they were pro- 
mulgated in this country, there was one general burst of 
indignation throughout the continent. Faction itself was 
silenced, and the firm and unanimous determination of all 



136 ON THE SEMINOLE WAK. 

parties was, to fight until the last man fell in the ditch, 
rather than submit to such ignominious terms. What a con- 
trast is exhibited between the cotemporaneous scenes of 
Ghent and of Fort Jackson: what a powerful voucher would 
the British commissioners have been furnished with, if they 
could have got hold of that treaty! The United States de- 
mand^ the United States demand^ is repeated five or six 
times. And what did the preamble itself disclose? That 
two-thirds of the Creek nation had been hostile, and one- 
third only friendly to us. Now, he had heard, (^he could 
not vouch for the truth of the statement) that not one hos- 
tile chief signed the treaty. He had also heard that perhaps 
one or two of them had. If the treaty were really made 
by a minority of the nation, it was not obligatory upon the 
whole nation. It was void, considered in the light of a na- 
tional compact. And if void, the Indians were entitled to 
the benefit of the provision of the ninth article of the treaty 
of Ghent, by which we bound ourselves to make peace with 
any tribes with whom we might be at war on the ratification 
of the treaty, and to restore to them their lands as they held 
them in 1811. Mr. C. said he did not know how the hon- 
ourable Senate, that body for which he held so high a respect, 
could have given their sanction to the treaty of Fort Jack- 
son, so utterly irrcconcileable as it is with those noble prin- 
ciples of generosity and magnanimity which he hoped to 
see his country always exhibit, and particularly toward the 
miserable remnant of the aborigines. It would have com- 
ported better with those principles, to have Imitated the 
benevolent policy of the founder of Pennsylvania, and to 
have given to the Creeks, conquered as they were, even if 
they had made an unjust war upon us, the trifling considera- 
tion, to them an adequate compensation, which he paid for 
their lands. That treaty, Mr. C. said, he feared, had been 
the main cause of the recent war. And if it had been, it 
only added another melancholy proof to those with which 
history already abounds, that hard and unconscionable terms, 
extorted by the power of the sword and the right of con- 
quest, served but to whet and stimulate revenge, and to 
give to old hostilities, smothered, not extinguisheti by the 
pretended peace, greater exasperation and more ferocity. 
A truce thus patched up with an unfortunate people, with- 
out the means of existence, without bread, is no real peace. 
The instant there is the slightest prospect of relief, from 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 137 

such harsh and severe conditions, the conquered party will 
fly to arms, and spend the last drop of blood rather than 
live in such degraded bondage. Even if you again reduce 
him to submission, the expenses incurred by this second 
war, to say nothing of the human lives that are sacrificed, 
will be greater than what it vyould have cost you to have 
granted him liberal conditions in the first instance. I his 
treaty, he repeated it, was, he apprehended, the cause of 
the war. It led to those excesses on our southern borders 
which began it. Who first commenced them, it was perhaps 
difficult to ascertain. There was, however, a paper on this 
subject communicated at the last session by the president 
that told, in language pathetic and feeling, an artless tale — 
Ji paper that carried such internal evidence, at least, of the 
belief of the authors of it that they were writing the truth, 
that he would ask the favour of the committee to allow him 
to read it.* I should be very unwilling, Mr, C. said, to 

* The following is the letter from ten of the Seminole towns, which 
Mr. C. read. 

To the Commanding officer at Fort Hawkins. 
Dear Sir, 

Since the last war, after you sent word that we must quit the war, we, 
the Red people, have come over on this side. The white people have 
carried all the red people^s cattle off. After the war, I sent to all my 
people to let the white people alone, and stay on this side of the river; 
and they did so: but the white people still continue to carry off their cat- 
tle. Bernard's son was here, and 1 inquired of him what was to be done 
— and he said we must go to the head man of the white people and co?n- 
plain. I did so, and there was no head white man. and there was no law 
in this case. The whites first began and there is nothing said about that; 
but great complaint about what the Indians do. This is now three years 
since the white people killed three Indians, since that they have killed 
three other Indians., and taken their horses, and what they liad: and this 
summer they killed three more; and very lately they killed one more. 
We sent word to the white people that these murders were done, and the 
answer was, that they were people that were outlaws, and we ought to 
go and kill them. The white people killed our people first, the Indians 
then took satisfaction. There are yet three men that the red people have 
never taken satisfaction for. You have wrote that there were houses 
burnt; but we know of no such thing being done: the truth in such cases 
ought to be told, but this appears otherwise. On that side of the river, 
the white people have killed five Indians; but there is nothing said about 
that; and all that the Indians have done is brought up. All the mischief 
the white people have done, ought to be told to their head man. When there 
is any thing done, you write to us; but never write to your head man 
what the white people do. When the red people send talks, or write, 
they always send the truth. You have sent to us for your horses, and 
we sent all that we could find; but there were some dead. It appears 
T 



138 ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

assert, in regard to this war, that the fault was on our sidej 
but he feared it was. He had heard that very respectable 
gentleman, now no more, who once filled the executive 
chair of Georgia, and who, having been agent of Indian af- 
fairs in that quarter, had the best opportunity of judging of 
the origin of this war, deliberately pronounce it as his 
opinion, that the Indians were not in fault. Mr. C. said, 
that he was far from attributing to general Jackson any 
other than the very slight degree of blame which attached 
to him as the negociator of the treaty of Fort Jackson, and 
which would be shared by those who subsequently ratified 
and sanctioned that treaty. But if there were even a doubt 
as to the origin of the war, whether we were censurable or 
the Indians, that doubt would serve to increase our regret 
at any distressing incidents which may have occurred, and 
to mitigate, in some degree, the crimes which we impute 
to the other side. He knew, he said, that when general Jack- 
son was summoned to the field, it was too late to hesitate — 
the fatal blow had been struck in the destruction of Fowl 
town, and the dreadful massacre of lieutenant Scott and his 
detachment; and the only duty which remained to him was 
to terminate this unhappy contest. 

that all the mischief is laid on this town ; but all the mischief that has 
"been done by this town is two horses; one of tliem is dead, and the other 
was sent b:^ck. The cattle that we are accused of taking, were cattle 
that the white people took from us. Our young men went and brought 
them back, with the same marks and brands. There were some of our 
young men out hunting, and they were killed; others went to take satis- 
faction, and the kettle of one of the men that was killed was found in the 
house where the woman and two children were killed; and they sup- 
posed it had been her husband who had killed the Indians, and took 
their satisfaction there. We are accused of killing the Aixi'^ricans, and 
so on; but since the word was sent to us that peace was made, we stay 
steady at home, and meddle with no person. You have sent to us re- 
specting the black people on the Suwany river; we have nothing to do 
with ihem. They were put there by the English, and to them you ought 
to apply for any thing about them. We do not wish our country desola- 
ted by an army passing through it, for the concern of other people. The 
Indians have slaves there also: a great many of them. When we have 
an opportunity we shall apply to the English for them, but we cannot get 
them now. 

This is what we have to say at present. 

Sir, I conclude by subscribing myself, 

your humble servant, &€. 

September, the 11th day, 1817. 

N. B. There are ten towns have read this letter and this is the answer. 

A true copy of the original. Wm. Bell, Aid-de-camp. 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 139 

The first circumstance which in the course of his per- 
forming that duty, fixed our attention, had, Mr. C. said, 
filled him with regret. It was the execution of the Indian 
chiefs. How, he asked, did they come into our possession? 
Was it in the course of fair, and open, and honourable war? 
No, but by means of deception — by hoisting foreign colors 
on the staff from which the stars and stripes should alone 
have floated. Thus ensnared, the Indians were taken on 
shore, and without ceremony, and without delay, were hung. 
Hang an Indian! We, sir, who are civilized, and can com- 
prehend and feel the effect of moral causes and considera- 
tions, attach ignominy to that mode of death. And the gal- 
lant, and refined, and high minded man, seeks by all pos- 
sible means to avoid it. But what cares an Indian whether 
you. hang or shoot him? The moment he is captured, he is 
considered by his tribe as disgraced, if not lost. They, too, 
are indifferent about the manner in which he is despatched. 
But, Mr. C. said, he regarded the occurrence with grief for 
other and higher considerations. It wa? the first instance 
that he knew of, in the annals of our country, in which re- 
taliation, by executing Indian captives, had ever been deli- 
berately practised. There may have been exceptions, but if 
there were, they met with contemporaneous condemnation, 
and have been reprehended by the just pen of impartial his- 
tory. The gentleman from Massachusetts may tell me, if 
he chooses, what he pleases about the tomahawk and scalp- 
ing knife — about Indian enormities, and foreign miscreants 
and incendiaries. I, too, hate them; from my very soul I 
abominate them. But, I love my country, and its constitu- 
tion; I love liberty and safety, and fear military despotism 
more even than I hate these monsters. The gentleman, in 
the course of his remarks, alluded to the state from which 
I have the honour to come. Little, sir, does he know of 
the high and magnanimous sentiments of the people of that 
state, if he supposes they will approve of the transaction to 
which he referred. Brave and generous, humanity and cle- 
mency towards a fallen foe constitute one of their noisiest 
characteristics. Amidst all the struggles for that fair land 
between the natives and the present inhabitants, Mr. C. 
said, he defied the gentleman to point out one instance in 
which a Kentuckian had stained his hand by — nothing but 
his high sense of the distinguished services and exalted 
merits of general Jackson prevented his using a different 



140 ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

term — the execution of an unarmed and prostrate captive. 
Yes, said Mr. C. there was one solitary exception, in which 
a man, enraged at beholding an Indian prisoner, who had 
been celebrated for his enormities, and who had destroyed 
some of his kindred, plunged his sword into his bosom. 
The wicked deed was considered as an abominable outrage 
when it occurred, and the name of the man has been handed 
down to the execration of posterity. 1 deny your right said 
JMr. C. thus to retaliate on the aboriginal proprietors of the 
country; and unless I am utterly deceived, it may be shown 
that it does not exist. But before I attempt this, allow me 
to make the gentleman from Massachusetts a little better 
acquainted with those people, to whose feelings and sympa- 
thies he has appealed through their representative. During 
the late war with Great Britain, colonel Campbell, under the 
command of my honourable friend from Ohio, (general Har- 
rison) was placed at the head of a detachment consisting 
chiefly, he believed, of Kentucky volunteers, in order to 
destroy the Mississinaway towns. They proceeded and 
performed the duty, and took some prisoners. And here is 
evidence of the manner in which they treated them. (Here 
Mr. C. read the general orders issued on the return of the 
detachment).* I hope, sir, the honourable gentleman will 
be now able better to appreciate the character and conduct 
of my gallant countrymen than he appears hitherto to have 
done. 

But, sir, I have said that you have no right to practise 
under colour of retaliation, enormities on the Indians. I will 
advance in support of this position, as applicable to the 
origin of all law, the principle, that whatever has been the 
custom, from the commencement of a subject, whatever has 

* The following- is the extract read by Mr. Clay. 

" But the character of this gallant detachment, exhibiting', as it did, 
perseverance, fortitude and bravery, would, however, be incomplete, if, 
in the midst of victory, they had forgotten the feelings of humanity. It 
is with the sincerest pleasure that the general has heard, that the most 
punctual obe^dience was paid to his orders, in not only saving all the 
women aad children, but in sparing all the warriors who ceased to resist; 
and that even when vigorously attacked by the enemy, the claims of 
mercy prevailed over every sense of their own danger, and this heroic 
band respected the lives of their prisoners. Let an account of murdered 
innocence be opened in the records of heaven against jur enemies alone. 
The American soldier will follow the example of his government, and 
the sword of the one will not be raised against tlie fallen and the helpless, 
nor the gold of the other be paid for scalps of a massacred enemy." 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 141 

beefa the uniform usage coeval and co-existent with the 
subject to which it relates, becomes its fixed law. Such was 
the foundation of all common law; and such, he believed, 
was the principal foundation of all public or international 
law. If, then, it could be shown that from the first settle- 
ment of the colonies, on this part of the American conti- 
nent, to the present time, we have constantly abstained from 
retaliating upon the Indians the excesses practised by them 
towards us, we were morally bound by this invariable usage, 
and could not lawfully change it without the most cogent 
reasons. So far as his knowledge extended, he said, that 
from the first settlement at Plymouth or at Jamestown, it 
had not been our practice to destroy Indian captives, com- 
batants or non-combatants. He knew of but one deviation 
from the code which regulated the warfare between civilized 
communities, and that was the destruction of Indian towns, 
which was supposed to be authorized upon the ground that 
we could not bring the war to a termination but by destroy- 
ing the means which nourished it. With this single ex- 
ception, the other principles of the laws of civilized nations 
are extended to them, and are thus made law in regard to 
them. When did this humane custom, by which, in con- 
sideration of their Ignorance, and our enlightened condition, 
the rigours of war were mitigated, begin? At a time when 
we were weak, and they were comparatively strong — when 
they were the lords of the soil, and we were seeking, from 
the vices, from the corruptions, from the religious intoler- 
ance and from the oppressions of Europe, to gain an asylum 
among them. And when is it proposed to change this cus- 
tom, to substitute for it the bloody maxims of barbarous 
ages, and to interpolate the Indian public law with revolt- 
ing cruelties? At a time when the situation of the two par- 
ties is totally changed — when we are powerful and they are 
weak — at a time when, to use a figure drawn from their 
own sublime eloquence, the poor children of the forest have 
been driven by the great wave which has flowed in from 
the Atlantic ocean almost to the base of the Rocky moun- 
tains, and overwhelming them in its terrible progress, he 
has left no other remains of hundreds of tribes, now extinct, 
than those which indicate the remote existence of their 
former companion, the Mammoth of the new world! Yes, 
sir, it is at this auspicious period of our country, when we 
hold a proud and lofty station, among the first nations of 



i42 ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

the world, that we are called upon to sanction a departure 
from the established laws and usages which have regulated 
our Indian hostilities. And does the honourable gentleman 
from Massachusetts expect, in this august body, this en- 
lightened assembly of christians and Americans, by glowing 
appeals to our passions, to make us forget our principles, 
our religion, our clemency, and our humanity? Why was 
it, Mr. C. asked, that we had not practised toward the 
Indian tribes the right of retaliation, now for the first time 
asserted in regard to them? It was because it is a principle 
proclaimed by reason, and enforced by every respectable 
writer on the law of nations, that retaliation is only justifi- 
able as calculated to produce eff'ect in the war. Vengeance 
was a new motive for resorting to it. If retaliation will 
produce no effect on the enemy, we are bound to abstain 
from it, by every consideration of humanity and of justice. 
"Will it, then, produce effect on the Indian tribes? No — they 
care not about the execution of those of their warriors who 
are taken captive. They are considered as disgraced by the 
very circumstance of their captivity, and it is often mercy 
to the unhappy captive, to deprive him of his existence. 
The poet evinced a profound knowledge of the Indian cha- 
racter, when he put into the mouth of the son of a distin- 
guished chief, about to be led to the stake and tortured by 
his victorious enemy, the words — 

Begin, ye tormentors! your threats are in vain: 
The son of Alknomak will never complain. 

Retaliation of Indian excesses, not producing then any 
effect in preventing their repetition, was condemned by both 
reason and the principlt- s upon which alone, in any case, it 
can be justified. On this branch of the subject much more 
might be said, but as he should possibly again allude to it, 
he would pass from it, for the present, to another topic. 

It was not necessary, Mr. C. said, for the purpose of his 
argument in regard to the trial and execution of Arbuthnot 
and Ambrister, to insist on the innocency of either of them. 
He would yield, for the sake of that argument, without 
inquiry, that both of them were guilty; that both had insti- 
gated the war; and that one of them had led the enemy to 
battle. It was possible, indeed, that a critical examination 
of the evidence would show, particuhrly in the case of Ar- 
buthnot, that the whole amount of his crime consisted in 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 143 

his trading, without the limits of the United States, with 
the Seminole Indians, in the accustomed commodities which 
form the subject of Indian trade; and that he sought to in- 
gratiate himself with his customers, by espousing their in- 
terests, in regard to the provision of the treaty of Ghent, 
which he may have honestly believed entitled them to the 
restoration of their lands. And if, indeed, the treaty of 
Fort Jackson, for the reasons already assigned, were not 
binding upon the Creeks, there would be but too much cause 
to lament his unhappy, il not unjust fate. The first impres- 
sion made on the examination of the proceedings in the trial 
and execution of those two men, is, that on the part of Am- 
brister, there was the most guilt, but at the same time, the 
most irregularity. Conceding the point of the guilt of both, 
with the qualification which he had stated, he would pro- 
ceed to inquire, first, if their execution could be justified 
upon the principles assumed by general Jackson himself. If 
they did not afford a justification, he would next inquire if 
there were any other principles authorizing their execution; 
and he would, in the third place, make some observations 
upon the mode of proceeding. 

The principle assumed by general Jackson, which may be 
found in his general orders commanding the execution of 
these men, is, " that it is an established principle of the law 
of nations, that any individual of a nation, making war 
against the citizens of any other nation, they being at peace, 
forfeits his allegiance, and becomes an outlaw and a pirate." 
Whatever may be the character of individuals waging pri- 
vate war, the principle assumed is totally erroneous, when 
applied to such individuals associated with a power, whether 
Indian or civilized, capable of maintaining the relations of 
peace and war. Suppose, however, the principle were true, 
as asserted, what disposition should he have made of these 
men? What jurisdiction, and how acquired, has the military 
over pirates, robbers, and outlaws? If they were in the 
character imputed, they were alone amenable, and should 
have been turned over to the civil authority. But the prin- 
ciple, he repeated, was totally incorrect, when applied to 
men in their situation. A foreigner, connecting himself with 
a belligerent, becomes an enemy of the party to whom that 
belligerent is opposed, subject to whatever he may be sub- 
ject, entitled to whatever he is entitled, Arbuthnot and 
Ambrister, by associating themselves, became identified 



144 ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

with the Indians; they became our enemies, and we had a 
right to treat them as we could lawfully treat the Indians. 
These positions were so obviously correct, that he should 
consider it an abuse of the patience of the committee to 
consume time in their proof. I'hey were supported by the 
practice of all nations, and of our own. Every page of his- 
tory, in all times, and the recollection of every member, 
furnish evidence of their truth. Let us look for a moment 
into some of the consequences of this principle, if it were 
to go to Europe, sanctioned by the approbation, express or 
implied, of this house. We have now in our armies proba- 
bly the subjects of almost every European power. Some of 
the nations of Europe maintain the doctrine of perpetual 
allegiance. Suppose Britain and America in peace, and 
America and France at war. The former subjects of En- 
gland, naturalized and unnaturalized, are captured by the 
navy or army of France. What is their condition? according 
to the principle of general Jackson, they would be outlaws 
and pirates, and liable to immediate execution. Were gen- 
tlemen prepared to return to their respective districts with 
this doctrine in their mouths, and say to their Irish, En- 
glish, Scotch, and other foreign constituents, that you are 
liable, on the contingency supposed, to be treated as out- 
laws and pirates? 

Was there any other principle which justified the pro- 
ceedings? On this subject, he said, if he admired the won- 
derful ingenuity with which gentlemen sought a colourable 
pretext for those executions, he was at the same time shock* 
ed at some of the principles advanced. What said the hon- 
ourable gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Holmes) in a 
cold address to the committee? Why, that these executions 
were only the wrong mode of doing aright thing. A wrong 
mode of doing a right thing! In what code of public law; 
in what system of ethics; nay, in what respectable novel; 
where, if the gentleman were to take the range of the whole 
literature of the world, will he find any sanction for a prin- 
ciple so monstrous? He would illustrate its enormity by a 
single case. Suppose a man being guilty of robbery, is tried, 
condemned, and executed for murder, upon an indictment 
for that robbery merely. The judge is arraigned for having 
executed, contrary to law, a human being, innocent at heart 
of the crime for which he was sentenced. The judge has 
nothing to do, to ensure his own acquittal, but to urge the 
gentleman's plea, that he had done a right thing a wrong way! 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. I45 

The principles which attached to the cases of Arbuthnot 
and Ambrister, constituting them merely partkipes in the 
war, supposing them to have been combatants, which the 
former was not, he having been taken in a Spanish fortress, 
without arms in his hands, all that we could possibly have 
a right to do, was to apply to them the rules which we had 
a right to enforce against the Indians. Their English cha- 
racter was only merged in their Indian character. Now, if 
the law regulating Indian hostilities, be established by long 
and immemorial usage, that we have no moral right to re- 
taliate upon them, we consequently had no right to retaliate 
upon Arbuthnot and Ambrister. Even if it were admitted 
that, in regard to future wars, and to other foreigners, their 
execution may have a good effect, it would not thence fol- 
low that you had a right to execute them. It is not always 
just to do what may be advantageous. And retaliation, 
during a war. must have relation to the events of that war, 
and must, to be just, have an operation on that war, and 
upon the individuals only who compose the belligerent party. 
It became gentlemen, then, on the other side, to show, by 
some known, certain, and recognized rule of public or mu- 
nicipal law, that the execution of these men was justified. 
Where is it? He should be glad to see it. We are told in 
a paper emanating from the department of state, recently 
laid before this house, distinguished for the fervour of its 
eloquence, and of which the honourable gentleman from 
Massachusetts, has supplied us in part with a second edition, 
in one respect agreeing with the prototype, that they both 
ought to be inscribed to the American public — we are justly 
told in that paper, that this is the Jirst instance of the exe- 
cution of persons for the crime of instigating Indians to war. 
Sir, there are two topics which, in Europe, are constantly 
employed by the friends and minions of legitimacy against 
our country. The one is an inordinate spirit of aggrandize- 
ment — of coveting other people's goods. The other is the 
treatment which we extend to the Indians. Against both 
these charges, the public servants who conducted at Ghent 
the negociations with the British commissioners, endea- 
voured to vindicate our country, and he hoped with some 
degree of success. What will be the condition of future 
American negociators, when pressed upon this head, he 
knew not, after the unhappy executions on our southern 
border. The gentleman from Massachusetts seemed en 
U 



146 ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

yesterday to read, with a sort of triumph, the names of the 
commissioners employed in the negociation at Ghent. Will 
he excuse me for saying, that I thought he pronounced, 
even with more complacency and with a more gracious smile, 
the first name in the commission, than he emphasized that of 
the humble individual who addresses you, (Mr. Holmes de- 
sired to explain) Mr. C. said there was no occasion for ex- 
planation; he was perfectly satisfied. fMr. H. however, 
proceeded to say that his intention was, in pronouncing the 
gentleman's name, to add to the respect due to the nego- 
ciator that which was due to the speaker of this house.) 
To return to the case of Arbuthnot and Ambrister. Will 
the principle of these men having been the instigators of 
the war, justify their execution? It was a new one; there 
were no land marks to guide us in its adoption; or to pre- 
scribe limits in its application. If William Pitt had been 
taken by the French army, during the late European war, 
could France have justifiably executed him, on the ground 
of his having notoriously instigated the continental powers 
to war against France. Would France, if she had stained 
her character by executing him, have obtained the sanction 
of the world to the act, by appeals to the passions and pre- 
judices, by pointing to the cities sacked, the countries laid 
waste, the human lives sacrificed in the wars which he had 
kindled, and by exclaiming to the unfortunate captive, you! 
miscreant, monster, have occasioned all these scenes of de- 
vastation and blood? What had been the conduct even of 
England towards the greatest instigator of all the wars of 
the present age? The condemnation of that illustrious man 
to the rock of St. Helena, was a great blot on the English 
name. And Mr. C. repeated what he had before said, that 
if Chatham or Fox, or even William Pitt himself, had been 
prime minister, in England, Bonaparte had never been so 
condemned. On that transaction history will one day pass 
its severe but just censure. Yes, although Napoleon had 
desolated half Europe; although there was scarcely a power, 
however humble, that escaped the mighty grasp of his am- 
bition; although in the course of his splendid career he is 
charged with having committed the greatest atrocities, dis- 
graceful to himself and to human nature, yet even his life 
has been spared. The allies would not, England would 
not, execute him, upon the ground of his being an instiga- 
tor of wars. 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 147 

The mode of the trial and sentencing these men, Mr. C. 
said, was equally objectionable with the principles on which 
it had befn attempted to prove a forfeiture of their lives. 
He knew, he said, the laudable spirit which prompted the 
ingenuity displayed in finding out a justification for these 
proceedings. He wished most sincerely that he could re- 
concile them to his conscience. It had been attempted to 
vindicate the general upon grounds which he was persuaded 
he would himself disown. It had been asserted, that he was 
guilty of a mistake in calling upon the court to try them, 
and that he might have at once ordered their execution, 
without that formality. He denied that there was any such 
absolute right in the commander of any portion of our army. 
The right of retaliation is an attribute of sovereignty. It is 
comprehended in the war making power that congress pos- 
sesses. It belongs to this body not only to declare war, but 
to raise armies, and to make rules and regulations for their 
government. It was in vain for gentlemen to look to the 
law of nations for instances in which retaliation is lawful. 
The laws of nations merely laid down the principle or rule; 
it belongs to the government to constitute the tribunal for 
applying that principle or rule. There was, for example, no 
instance in which the death of a captive was more certainly 
declared by the law of nations to be justifiable, than in the 
case of spies. Congress has accordingly provided, in the 
rules and articles of war, a tribunal for the trial of spies, 
and consequently for the application of the principle of the 
national law. The legislature had not left the power over 
spies undefined, to the mere discretion of the commander in 
chief, or of any subaltern officer in the army. For, if the 
doctrines now contended for were true, they would apply 
to the commander of any corps, however small, acting as a 
detachment. Suppose congress had not legislated in the case 
of spies, what would have been their condition.? It would 
have been a casus omissus,, and although the public law pro- 
nounced their doom, it could not be executed because con- 
gress had assigned no tribunal for enforcing that public law. 
No man could be executed in this free country without two 
things being shown: 1st, That the law condemns him to 
death; and 2d, That his death is pronounced by that tribu- 
nal which is authorised by the law to try him. These prin- 
ciples would reach every man's case, native or foreign, citi- 
zen or alien. The instant quarters are granted to a prisoner, 
the majesty of the law surrounds and sustains him, and he 



148 ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

cannot be lawfully punished with death, without the con- 
currence of the two circumstances just insisted upon. He 
denied that any commander in chief, in this country, had 
this absolute power of life and death, at his sole discretion. 
It was contrary to the genius of all our laws and institutions. 
To concentrate in the person of one individual the powers 
to make the rule, to judge and to execute the rule, or to 
judge, and execute the rule only, was utterly irreconcilable 
with every principle of free government, and was the very 
definition of tyranny itself; and he trusted that this house 
would never give even a tacit assent to such a principle. 
Suppose the commander had made, even reprisals on pro- 
perty, would that property have belonged to the nation, or 
could he have disposed of it as he pleased? Had he more 
power, would gentlemen tell him, over the lives of human 
beings, than over property? The assertion of such a power 
to the commander in chief, was contrary to thfe practice of 
the government. By an act of congress, which passed in 
1799, vesting the power of retaliation in certain cases in the 
president of the United States — an act which passed during 
the quasi war with France, the president is authorised to 
retaliate upon any of the citizens of the French republic, 
the enormities which may be practised in certain cases, upon 
our citizens. Under what administration was this act pas- 
sed? It was under that which has been justly charged with 
stretching the constitution to enlarge the executive powers. 
Even during the mad career of Mr. Adams, when every 
means were resorted to for the purpose of infusing vigor into 
the executive arm, no one thought of claiming for him the 
inherent right of retaliation. He would not trouble the house 
with reading another law, which passed thirteen or fourteen 
years after, during the late war with Great Britain, under 
the administration of that great constitutional president, the 
father of the instrument itself, by which Mr. Madison, was 
empowered to retaliate on the British in certain instances. 
It was not only contrary to the genius of our institutions, 
and to the uniform practice of the government, but it was 
contrary to the obvious principles on which the general him- 
self had proceeded; for, in forming the court, he had evi- 
dently intended to proceed under the rules and articles of war. 
The extreme number which they provide for is thirteen, pre- 
cisely that which is detailed in the present instance. The 
court proceeded not by a bare plurality, but by a majority 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 149 

of two-thirds. In the general orders issued from the adju- 
tant general's office, at head quarters, it is described as a 
court-martial. The prisoners are said, in those orders, to 
have been tried "■ on the following charges and specifica" 
tions," The court understood itself to be acting as a court- 
martial. It was so organized — it so proceeded, having a 
judge advocate, hearing witnesses, and th^: written defence 
of the miserable trembling prisoners, who seemed to have a 
presentiment of their doom. And the court was finally dis- 
solved. The whole proceeding manifestly shows that all 
parties considered it as a court-martial, convened and acting 
under the rules and articles of war. In his letter to the se- 
cretary of war, noticing the transaction, the general says: 
*' These individuals were tried undt rmy orders, leg-ally con- 
victed as exciters of this savage and negro war, legally con- 
demned and most justly punished for their iniquities." The 
Lord deliver us from such legal conviction, and such legal 
condemnations! The general himself considered the laws of 
his country to have justified his proceedings. It was in vaia 
then to talk of a power in him beyond the law, and above 
the law, when he himself does not assert it. Let it be con- 
ceded, that he was clothed with absolute authority over the 
lives of those individuals, and that, upon his own fiat, with- 
out trial, without defence, he might have commanded their 
execution. Now if an absolute sovereign, in any particular 
respect, promulgates a rule which he pledges himself to ob- 
serve, if he subsequently deviates from that rule, he subjects 
himself to the imputation of odious tyranny. If general Jack- 
son had the power, without a court, to condemn these menj 
he had also the power to appoint a tribunal. He did ap- 
point a tribunal, and became, therefore, morally bound to 
observe and execute the sentence of that tribunal. In regard 
to Ambrister, it was with grief and pain he was compelled 
to say that he was executed in defiance of all law; in defi- 
ance of the law to which general Jackson had voluntarily, if 
you please, submitted himself, and given, by his appeal to 
the court, his implied pledge to observe. He knew but lit- 
tle of military law, and what had happened, had certainly 
not created in him a taste for acquiring a knowledge of more j 
but he believed there was no example on record, where the 
sentence of the court has been erased, and a sentence not 
pronounced by it carried into execution. It had been sug- 
gested that the court had pronounced two sentences, and 



150 ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

that the general had a right to select either. Two sentences! 
Two verdicts! It was not so. The first being revoked, was 
as though it had never been pronounced. And there re- 
mained only one sentence, which was put aside upon the 
sole authority of the commander, and the execution of the 
prisoner ordered. He either had or had not a right to de- 
cide upon the fate of that man, without the intervention of 
a court. If he had the right, he waved it, and, having vio- 
lated the sentence of the court, there was brought upon the 
judicial administration of the army a reproach, which must 
occasion the most lasting regret. 

However guilty these men were, they should not have 
been condemned or executed, without the authority of the 
law. He would not dwell, at this time, on the effect of these 
precedents in foreign countries, but he would not pass un- 
noticed their dangerous influence in our own country. Bad 
examples are generally set in the cases of bad men, and 
often remote from the central government. It was in the 
provinces that were laid the abuses and the seeds of the 
ambitious projects which overturned the liberties of Rome. 
He beseeched the committee not to be so captivated by the 
charms of eloquence, and the appeals made to our passions 
and our sympathies, as to forget the fundamental principles 
of our government. The influence of a bad example would 
often be felt when its authors and all the circumstances con- 
nected with it, were no longer remembered. He knew of 
but one analogous instance of the execution of a prisoner, 
and that had brought more odium, than almost any other 
incident, on the unhappy emperor of France. He alluded 
to the instance of the execution of the unfortunate member 
of the Bourbon house. He sought an asylum in the terri- 
tories of Baden. Bonaparte despatched a corps of gen- 
d'armes to the place of his retreat, seized him, and brought 
him to the dungeons of Vincennes. He was there tried by 
a court martial, condemned, and shot. There, as here, was 
a violation of neutral territory; there the neutral ground was 
not stained with the blood of him whom it should have pro- 
tected. And there was another most unfortunate difference 
for the American example. The duke D'Enghein, was ex- 
ecuted according to his sentence. It is said by the defenders 
of Napoleon, that the duke had been machinating not mere- 
Iv to overturn the French government, but against the life 
of its chief. If that were true, he might, if taken in France, 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 151 

have been legally executed. Such was the odium brought 
upon the instruments of this transaction, that those persons 
who have been even suspected of participation in it have 
sought to vindicate themselves, from what they appear to 
have considered as an aspersion, before foreign courts. In 
conclusion of this part of the subject, Mr. C. said, that he 
most cheerfully and entirely acquitted general Jackson of 
any intention to violate the laws of the country, or the obli- 
gations of humanity. He was persuaded, from all that he 
had heard, that he considered himself as equally respecting 
and observing both. With respect to the purity of his in- 
tentions, therefore, he was disposed to allow it in the most 
extensive degree. Of his acts^ said Mr. C. it is my duty to 
speak with the freedom which belongs to my station. And 
I shall now proceed to consider some of them, of the most 
momentous character, as it regards the distribution of the 
powers of government. 

Of all the powers conferred by the constitution of the 
United States, not one is more expressly and exclusively 
granted than that which gives to congress the power to de- 
clare war. The immortal convention who formed that in- 
strument had abundant reason drawn from every page of 
history, for confiding this tremendous power to the delibe- 
rate judgment of the representatives of the people. It was 
there seen that nations are often precipitated into ruinous 
war from folly, from pride, from ambition, and from the 
desire of military fame. It was believed, no doubt, in com- 
mitting this great subject to the legislature of the union, we 
should be safe from the mad wars that have afflicted and 
desolated and ruined other countries. It was supposed that 
before any war was declared the nature of the injury com- 
plained of would be carefully examined, the power and re- 
sources of the enemy estimated, and the power and resources 
of our own couutry, as well as the probable issue and con- 
sequences of the war. It was to guard our country against 
precisely that species of rashness, which has been manifest- 
ed in Florida, that the constitution was so framed. If then 
this power, thus cautiously and clearly bestowed upon con- 
gress, has been assumed and exercised by any other func- 
tionary of the government, it is cause of serious alarm, and 
it became that body to vindicate and maintain its authority 
by all the means in its power; and yet there are some gen- 
tlemen, who would have us not merely to yield a tame and 



152 ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

silent acquiescence in the encroachment, but even to pass a 
vote of thanks to the author. 

On the twenty-fifth of March 1818, (Mr. C. continued,) 
the president of the United States, communicated a message 
to congress in relation to the Seminole war, in which he 
declared that, although, in the prosecution of it, orders had 
been given to pass into the Spanish territory, they were so 
guarded as that the local authorities of Spain should be re- 
spected. How respected? The president, by the documents 
accompanying the message, the orders themselves which 
issued from the department of war, to the commanding 
general, had assured the legislature that, even if the enemy 
should take shelter under a Spanish fortress, the fortress 
was not to be attacked, but the fact to be reported to that 
department for further orders. Congress saw, therefore, 
that there was no danger of violating the existing peace. 
And yet, on the same twenty-fifth day of March (a most 
singular concurrence of dates,) when the representatives of 
the people receive this solemn message, announced in the 
presence of the nation and in the face of the world, and in 
the midst of a friendly negociation with Spain, does general 
Jackson write from his head quarters, that he shall take St. 
Marks as a necessary depot for his military operations! The 
general states, in his letter, what he had heard about the 
threat on the part of the Indians and Negroes, to occupy 
the fort, and declares his purpose to possess himself of it 
in either of the two contingencies, of its being in their hands 
or in the hands of the Spaniards. He assumed a right to 
judge what Spain was bound to do by her treaty, and judged 
very correctly; but then he also assumed the power, belong- 
ing to congress alone, of determining what should be the 
effect, and consequence of her breach of engagement. Ge- 
neral Jackson generally performs what he intimates his in- 
tention to do. Accordingly, finding St. Marks yet in the 
hands of the Spaniards, he seized and occupied it. Was 
ever, he asked, the just confidence of the legislative body, 
in the assurances of the chief magistrate, more abused? The 
Spanish commander intimated his willingness that the Ame- 
rican army should take post near him, until he could have 
instructions from his superior officer, and promised to main- 
tain, in the mean time, the most friendly relations. No! St. 
Marks was a convenient post for the American army, and 
delay was inadmissible. He had always understood that the 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 153 

Indians but rarely take or defend fortresses, because they 
are unskilled in the modes of attack and defence. The threat, 
therefore, on their part, to seize on St. Marks must have 
been empty, and would probably have been impracticable. 
At all events, when general Jackson arrived there, no danger 
any longer threatened the Spaniards from the miserable 
fugitive Indians, who fled on all sides upon his approach. 
And, sir, upon what plea is this violation of orders, and this 
act of war upon a foreign power, attempted to be justified? 
Upon the grounds of the conveniency of the depot and the 
Indian threat. The first he would not seriousl) examine and 
expose. If the Spanish character of the fort had been to- 
tally merged in the Indian character, it might have been 
justifiable to seize it. But that was not the fact, and the 
bare possibility of its being forcibly taken by the Indians 
could not justify our anticipating their blow. Of all the 
odious transactions which occurred during the late war be- 
tween France and England, none was more condemned in 
Europe and in this country, than her seizure of the fleet of 
Denmark at Copenhagen. And he lamented to be obliged 
to notice the analog) which existed in the defences made of 
the two cases. If his recollection did not deceive him, Bo- 
naparte had passed the Rhine and the Alps, had conquered 
Italy, the Netherlands, Holland, Hanover, Lubec, and Ham- 
burg, and extended his empire as far as Altona on the side 
of Denmark. A few days' march would have carried him 
through Holstein, over the two Belts, through Funen and 
into the island of Zealand. What then was the conduct of 
England? It was my lot, Mr. C. said, to fall into conver- 
sation with an intelligent Englishman on this subject. " We 
knew (said he,) that we were fighting for our existence. It 
was absolutely necessary that we should preserve the com- 
mand of the seas. If the fleet of Denmark fell into the ene- 
my's hands, combined with his other fleets, that command 
might be rendered doubtful. Denmark had only a nominal 
independence. She was, in truth, subject to his sway. We 
said to her, give us your fleet; it will otherwise be taken 
possession of by your secret and our open enemy. We will 
preserve it, and restore it to you whenever the danger shall 
be over. Denmark refused. Copenhagen was bombarded, 
gallantly defended, but the fleet was seized." Every where 
the conduct of England was censured; and the name even 
of the negociator who was employed by her, who was sub- 
X 



154 ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

sequently the minister near this government, was scarcely 
ever pronounced here without coupling with it an epithet 
indicating his participation in the disgraceful transaction. 
And yet we are going to sanction acts of violence, commit- 
ted by ourselves, which but too much resemble it! What 
an important difference, too, between the relative condition 
of England and of this country! She perhaps was struggling 
for her existence. She was combating, single-handed, the 
most enormous military power that the world has ever 
known. Who were we contending with? With a few half- 
starved, half-clothed, wretched Indians and fugitive slaves. 
And whilst carrying on this inglorious war, — inglorious as 
it regards the laurels or renown won in it, — we violate neu- 
tral rights, which the government had solemnly pledged 
itself to respect, upon the principle of convenience, or upon 
the light presumption that, by possibility, a post might be 
taken by this miserable combination of Indians and slaves. 
On the 8th of April, the general writes from St. Marks, 
that he shall march for the Suwaney river; the destroying 
of the establishments on which will, in his opinion, bring the 
war to a close. Accordingly having effected that object, 
he writes, on the 20th of April, that he believes he may 
say the war is at an end for the present. He repeats the 
same opinion in his letter to the secretary of war, written 
six days after. The war being thus ended, it might have 
been hoped that no further hostilities would have been com- 
mitted. But on the 23d of May, on his way home, he re- 
ceives a letter from the commandant of Pensacola, intimat- 
ing his surprise at the invasion of the Spanish territory, and 
the acts of hostility performed by the American army, and 
his determination, if persisted in, to employ force to repel 
them. Let us pause and examine this proceeding of the 
governor, so very hostile and affrontive in the view of gene- 
ral Jackson. Recollect that he was governor of Florida; that 
he had received no orders from his superiors, to allow a pas- 
sage to the American army; that he had heard of the reduc- 
tion of St. Marks; and that general Jackson, at the head of 
his army, was approaching in the direction of Pensacola. He 
had seen the president's message of the 25th of March, 
and reminded general Jackson of it, to satisfy him that the 
American government could not have authorised all those 
measures. Mr. C. said he could not read the allusion made 
by the governor to that message, without feeling that the 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. I55 

charge of insincerity, which it implied, had at least but too 
much the appearance of truth in it. Could the governor 
have done less than write some such letter? We have only 
to reverse situations, and to suppose him to have been an 
American governor. General Jackson says, that when he 
received that letter, he no longer hesitated. No, sir, he did 
no longer hesitate! He received it on the 23d, he was in 
Pensacola on the 24th, and immediately after set himself 
before the fortress of San Carlos de Barancas, which he 
shortly reduced. Feni, vid'i^ vici. Wonderful energy! Ad- 
mirable promptitude. Alas! that it had not been an energy 
and a promptitude within the pale of the constitution, and 
according to the orders of the chief magistrate! It was im- 
possible to give any definition of war, that would not com- 
prehend these acts. It was open, undisguised, and unau- 
thorised hostility. 

The honourable gentleman from Massachusetts had en- 
deavoured to derive some authority to general Jackson from 
the message of the president, and the letter of the secretary 
of war to governor Bibb. The message declares that the 
Spanish authorities are to be respected wherever maintained. 
What the president means by their being maintained, is ex- 
plained in the orders themselves, by the extreme case being 
put of the enemy seeking shelter under a Spanish fort. If 
even in that case he was not to attack, certainly he was not 
to attack in any case of less strength. The letter to governor 
Bibb admits of a similar explanation. When the secretary 
says, in that letter, that general Jackson is fully empowered 
to bring the Seminole war to a conclusion, he means that 
he is so empowered by his orders, which, being now before 
us, must speak for themselves. It does not appear that ge- 
neral Jackson ever saw that letter, which was dated at this 
place after the capture of St. Marks. He would take a mo- 
mentary glance at the orders. On the 2d ot December, 18 1 7, 
general Gaines was forbidden to cross the Floiida line. 
Seven days after, the secretary of war, having arrived here, 
and infused a little more energy into our councils, he was 
authorised to use a sound discretion in crossing it or not. 
On the I6th, he was instructed again to consider himself at 
liberty to cross the line, and pursue the enemy; but, if he 
took refuge under a ^Spanish fortress^ the fact was to be re- 
ported to the department ofxvar. These orders were trans- 
mitted to general Jackson, and constituted, or ought to have 



156 ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

constituted, his guide. There was then no justification for 
the occupation of Pensacola, and the attack on the Barancas, 
in the message of the president, the letter to governor Bibb, 
or in the orders themselves. The gentleman from Massa- 
chusetts would pardon him for saying that he had under- 
taken what even his talents were not competent to — the 
ntiaintenance of directly contradictory pi'opositions, that it 
was right in general Jackson to take Pensacola, and wrong 
in the president to keep it. The gentleman has made a greater 
mistake than he supposes general Jackson to have done in 
attacking Pensacola for an Indian town, by attempting the 
defence both of the president and general Jackson. If it 
were right in him to seize the place, it is impossible that it 
should have been right in the president immediately to sur- 
render it. We, sir, are the supporters of the president. We 
regret that we cannot support general Jackson also. The 
gentleman's liberality is more comprehensive than ours. I 
approve, with all my heart, of the restoration of Pensacola. 
I think St. Marks ought, perhaps, to have been also restored; 
but I say this with doubt and diffidence. That the presi- 
dent thought the seizure of the Spanish posts was an act of 
war, is manifest from his opening message; in which he says 
that, to have retained them, would have changed our rela- 
tions with Spain, to do which the power of the executive 
was incompetent, congress alone possessing it. The president 
has, in this instance, deserved well of his country. He has 
taken the only course which he could have pursued, consis- 
tent with the constitution of the land. And he defied the 
gentleman to make good both his positions, that the general 
was right in taking, and the president right in giving up the 
posts. (Mr. Holmes explained. We took these posts, he 
said, to keep them from the hands of the enemy, and, in 
restoring them, made it a condition that Spain should not 
let our enemy have them. We said to her, here is your dag- 
ger; we found it in the hands of our enemy, and havmg 
wrested it from him, we restore it to you in the hope that 
you will take better care of it for the future.) Mr. C. pro- 
ceeded. The gentleman from Massachusetts was truly un- 
fortunate; fact or principle was always against him. The 
Spanish posts were not in the possession ot the enemy. One 
old Indian only was found in the Barancas, none in Pensa- 
cola, none in St. Marks. There was not even the colour of 
a threat of Indian occupation as it regards Pensacola and 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR 157 

the Barancas. Pensacola was to be restored unconditionally, 
and might, therefore, immediately have come into the pos- 
session of the Indians, if they had the power and the will 
to take it. The gentleman was in a dilemma, from which 
there was no escape. He gave up general Jackson when he 
supported the president; and gave up the president when he 
supported general Jackson. Mr. C. said that he rejoiced to 
have seen the president manifesting, by the restoration of 
Pensacola, his devotedness to the constitution. When the 
whole country was ringing with plaudits for its capture, he 
said and he said alone, in the limited circle in which he 
moved, that the president must surrender it; that he could 
not hold it. It was not his intention, he said, to inquire 
whether the army was or was not constitutionally marched 
into Florida. It was not a clear question, and he was in- 
clined to think that the express authority of congress ought 
to have been asked. The gentleman from Massachusetts 
would allow him to refer to a part of the correspondence at 
Ghent different from that which he had quoted. He would 
find the condition of the Indians there accurately defined. 
And it was widely variant from the gentleman's ideas on 
this subject. The Indians, according to the statement of the 
American commissioners at Ghent, inhabiting the United 
States, have a qualified sovereignty only, the supreme so- 
vereignty residing in the government of the United States. 
They live under their own laws and customs, may inhabit 
and hunt their lands; but acknowledge the protection of the 
United Slates, and have no right to sell their lands but to 
the government of the United States. Foreign powers or 
foreign subjects have no right to maintain any intercourse 
with them, without our permission. They are not, there- 
fore, independent nations, as the gentleman supposed. Main- 
taining the relation described with them, we must allow a 
similar relation to exist between Spain and the Indians re- 
siding within her dominions. She must be, therefore, regard- 
ed as the sovereign of Florida, and we are accordingly 
treating with her for the purchase of it. In strictness, then, 
we ought first to have demanded of her to restrain the In- 
dians, and, that failing, we should have demanded a right 
of passage for our army. But, if the president had the 
power to march an army into Florida v.'ithout consulting 
Spain, and without the authority of congress, he had no 
power to authorise any act of hostility against her. If the 



158 ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

gentleman had even succeeded in showing that an authority 
was conveyed by the executive to general Jackson to take 
the Spanish posts, he would only have established that un- 
constitutional orders had been given, and thereby transfer- 
red the disapprobation from the military officer to the ex- 
ecutive. But no such orders were, in truth, given. The 
president had acted in conformity to the constitution, when 
he forbade the attack of a Spanish fort, and when, in the 
same spirit, he surrendered the posts themselves. 

He would not trespass much longer upon the time of the 
committee; but he trusted he should be indulged with some 
few reflections upon the danger of permitting the conduct 
on which it had been his painful duty to animadvert, to pass, 
without a solemn expression of the disapprobation of this 
house. Hecal to your recollection, said he, the free na- 
tions which have gone before us. Where are they now? 

Gone glimmering through the dream of things that were, 
A school boy's tale, the wonder of au hour. 

And how have they lost their liberties? If we could trans- 
port ourselves back to the ages when Greece and Rome 
flourished in their greatest prosperity, and, mingling in the 
throng, should ask a Grecian, if he did not fear that some 
daring military chieftain, covered with glory, some Philip 
or Alexander, would one day overthrow the liberties of his 
country? the confident and indignant Grecian would ex- 
claim no! no! we have nothing to fear from our heroes; our 
liberties will be eternal. If a Roman citizen had been 
asked, if he did not fear that the conquerer of Gaul might 
establish a throne upon the ruins of public liberty, he would 
have instantly repelled the unjust insinuation. Yet Greece 
had fallen, Csesar had passed the Rubicon, and the patriotic 
arm even of Brutus could not preserve the liberties of his 
devoted country! The celebrated niadame de Stael, in her 
last and perhaps her best work, has said, that in the very 
year, almost the very month, when the president of the 
directory declared that monarchy would never more show 
its frightful head in France, Bonaparte, with his grenadiers, 
entered the palace of St. Cloud, and, dispersing, with the 
bayonet, the deputies of the people, deliberating on the 
affairs of the state, laid the foundation of that vast fabric 
of despotism which overshadowed a I Europe. He hoped 
not to be misunderstood; he was far from intimating that 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. I59 

general Jackson cherished any designs inimical to the 
liberties of the country. He believed his intentions to be 
pure and patriotic. He thanked God that he would not, 
but he thanked him still more that he could not, if he would, 
overturn the liberties of the republic. But precedents, if 
bad, were fraught with the most dangerous consequences. 
Man has been described, by some of those who have treated 
of his nature, as a bundle of habits. The definition was 
much truer when applied to governments. Precedents 
were their habits. There \vas one important difference be- 
tween the formation of habits by an individual and by 
governments. He contracts it only after frequent repeti- 
tion. A single instance fixes the habit and determines the 
direction of governments. Against the alarming doctrine 
of unlimited discretion in our military commanders, when 
applied even to prisoners of war, he must enter his protest. 
It began upon them; it would end on us. He hoped our 
happy form of government was destined to be perpetual. 
But if it were to be preserved, it must be by the practice of 
virtue, by justice, by moderation, by magnanimity, by great- 
ness of soul, by keeping a watchful and steady eye on the 
executive; and, above all, by holding to a strict accounta- 
bility the military branch of the public force. 

We are fighting, said Mr. C. a great moral battle, for the 
benefit not only of our country, but of all mankind. The 
eyes of the whole world are in fixed attention upon us. 
One, and the largest, portion of it is gazing with contempt, 
with jealousy, and with envy; the other portion, with hope, 
with confidence, and with affection. Every where the 
black cloud of legitimacy is suspended over the world, save 
only one bright spot, which breaks out from the political 
hemisphere of the west, to enlighten and animate, and 
gladden the human heart. Obscure that, by the downfall 
of liberty here, and all maakind are enshrouded in a pall of 
universal darkness. To you, Mr. Chairman, belongs the 
high privilege of transmitting, unimpaired, to posterity, the 
fair character and liberty of our country. Do you expect 
to execute this high trust by trampling, or suffering to be 
trampled down law, justice, the constitution, and the rights 
of other people? By exhibiting examples of inhumanity, 
and cruelty, and ambition? When the minions of despotism 
heard, in Europe, of the seizure of Pensacola how did they . 
chuckle, and chide the admirers of our institutions, taunt- 



160 ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

ingly pointing to the demonstration of a spirit of injustice 
and aggrandizement made by our country, in the midst of 
amicable negociation. Behold, said they, the conduct of 
those who are constantly reproaching kings. You saw how 
those admirers were astounded and hung their heads. You 
saw too, when that illustrious man, who presides over us, 
adopted his pacific, moderate and just course, how they 
once more lifted up their heads with exultation and delight 
beaming in their countenances. And you, saw how those 
minions themselves were finally compelled to unite in the 
general praises bestowed upon our government. Beware 
how you forfeit this exalted character. Beware how you 
give a fatal sanction in this infant period of our republic, 
scarcely vet two score years old, to military insubordina- 
tion. Remember that Greece had her Alexander, Rome 
her Caesar, England her Cromwell, France her Bonaparte, 
and, that if we would escape the rock on which they split 
we must avoid their errors. 

How different has been the treatment of general Jackson, 
and that modest but heroic young man, a native of one of 
the smallest states in the union, who achieved for his 
countrv, on Lake Erie, one of the most glorious victories of 
the late war. In a moment of passion he forgot himself 
and offered an act of violence which was repented of as soon 
as perpetrated. He was tried, and suffered the judgement 
to be pronounced by his peers. Public justice was thought 
not even then to be satisfied. The press and congress took 
up the subject. My honourable friend from Virginia (Mr. 
Johnson) the faithful and consistent sentinel of the law and 
of the constitution, disapproved, in that instance as he does 
in this, and moved an inquiry. The public mind remained 
agitated and unappeased until the recent atonement so 
honourably made by the gallant commodore. And was 
there to be a distinction between the officers of the two 
branches of the public service? Are former services, how- 
ever, eminent, to preclude even inquiry into recent mis- 
conduct? Is there to be no limit, no prudential bounds to 
the national gratitude? He was not disposed to censure 
the president for not ordering a court of inquiry or a gene- 
ral court martial. Perhaps, impelled by a sense of grati- 
tude, he determined by anticipation to extend to the gene- 
ral that pardon which he had the undoubted right to grant 
after sentence. Let us, said Mr. C. not shrink from our 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 161 

duty. Let us assert our constitutional powers, and vindi- 
cate the instrument from military violation. 

He hoped gentlemen would deliberately survey the awful 
isthmus on which we stand. They may bear down all op- 
position; they may even vote the general the public thanks; 
they may carry him triumphantly through this house. But, 
if they do, in my humble judgment, it will be a triumph of 
the principle of insubordination — a triumph of the military 
over the civil authority — a triumph over the powers of this 
house — a triumph over the constitution of the land. And 
he prayed most devoutly to heaven, that it might not prove, 
In its ultimate eifects and consequences a triumph over the 
liberties of the people. 



162 



MISSION TO SOUTH AMERICA. 

House of Representatives^ Saturday^ March 28, 1820. 

The House having again resolved itself into a committee 
of the whole on the general appropriation bill, to which 
Mr. Clay had moved an amendment, going to make an ap- 
propriation for the outfit and a year's salary of a minister to 
Buenos Ayres. 

Mr. Clay said, that as no other gentleman appeared dis- 
posed to address the chair, he would avail himself of this 
opportunity of making some remarks in reply to the oppo- 
nents of his motion. 

The first objection which he thought it incumbent on him 
to notice was that of his friend from South Carolina, (Mr, 
Lowndes) who opposed the form of the proposition, as be- 
ing made on a general appropriation bill, on which he ap- 
peared to think nothing ought to be engrafted which was 
likely to give rise to a difference between the two branches 
of the legislature. If the gentleman himself had always acted 
on this principle, his objection would be entitled to more 
weight; but, Mr. Clay said, the item in the appropriation bill 
next following this, and reported by the gentleman himself, 
was infinitely more objectionable — which was, an appropria- 
tion of thirty thousand dollars for defraying the expenses 
of three commissioners, appointed, or proposed to be paid, 
in an unconstitutional form. It could not be expected that 
a general appropriation bill would ever pass without some 
disputable clauses, and in case of a difference between the 
two houses, (a difference which we had no right to antici- 
pate in this instance) which could not be compromised as 
to any article, the obvious course was to omit such article 
altogether, retaining all the others — and, in a case of that 
character, relative to brevet pay, which had occurred dur- 
ing the present session, such had been the ground the gen- 
tleman himself had taken in a conference with the senate, of 
tvhich he was a manager. 

The gentleman from South Carolina, Mr. Clay said, had 



MISSION TO SOUTH AMERICA. 163 

professed to concur with him in a great many of his general 
propositions; and neither he nor any other gentleman had 
disagreed with him, that the mere recognition of the inde- 
pendence of the provinces was no cause of war with Spain 
—except the gentleman from Maryland, fMr. Smith) to 
whom he recommended, without intending disrespect to him, 
to confine himself to the operations of commerce, rather than 
undertake to expound questions of public law; for he could 
assure the gentleman, that, although he might make some 
figure, with his practical knowledge, in the one case, he would 
not in the other. No man, Mr. C. said, except the gentle- 
man from Maryland, had come out with what he would call 
the hardihood to contend that, on the ground of principle 
and mere public law, the exercise of the right of recogniz- 
ing another power is cause of war. But, said Mr. C. though 
the gentleman from South Carolina admitted, that recogni- 
tion would be no cause of war, and that it was not likely to 
lead to a war withSpain,we found him, shortly after, getting 
into a war with Spain, how, I did not see, and by some means, 
which he did not deign to discover to us, getting us into a 
war with England also. Having satisfied himself, by this 
course of reasoning, the gentleman had discovered, that the 
finances of Spain were in a most favourable condition! On 
this part of the subject, Mr. C. said, it was not necessary for 
him to say any thing after what the committee had heard 
from the eloquent gentleman from Massachusetts, (Mr. 
Holmes) whose voice, in a period infinitely more critical in 
our affairs than the present, had been heard with so much 
delight from the east in support of the rights and honour of 
the country. He had clearly shown, that there was no pa- 
rallel between the state of Spain and of this country — the 
one of a country whose resources were completely impov- 
erished and exhausted; the other of a country whose resour- 
ces were almost untouched. But, Mr. C. said, he would 
ask of the gentleman from South Carolina, if he could con- 
ceive that a state, in the condition of Spain, whose minister 
of the treasury admits that the people have no longer the 
means of paying new taxes — a nation with an immense mass 
of floating debt, and totally without credit, could feel any anx- 
iety to engage in war with a nation like this, whose situation 
was, in every possible view, directly the reverse.'' He asked, 
if an annual revenue, equal only to five-eighths of the annual 
expenditure, exhibited a financial ability to enter upon a 



164 MISSION TO SOUTH AMERICA. 

new war, when, too, the situation of Spain was altogether 
unlike that of the United States and England, whose credit, 
resting upon a solid basis, enabled them to supply, by loans, 
any deficit in the income? 

Notwithstanding the diversity of sentiment which had 
been displayed during the debate, Mr. C. was happy to find 
that, with one exception, every member had done justice to 
the struggle in the south, and admitted it to be entitled to the 
favor of the best feelings of the human heart. Even my honor- 
able friend near me, (Mr. Nelson) has made a speech on our 
side, and we should not have found out, if he had not told 
us, that he would vote against us. Although his speech has 
been distinguished by his accustomed eloquence, I should 
be glad, Mr. C. said, to agree on a cartel with the gentle- 
men on the other side of the house, to give them his speech 
for his vote. The gentleman says, his heart is with us, that 
he ardently desires the independence of the south. Will he 
excuse me for telling him, that if he will give himself up to 
the honest feelings of his heart, he will have a much surer 
guide than by trusting to his head, to which, however, I am 
far from offering any disparagement? 

But, sir, it seems that a division of the republican party 
as about to be made by the proposition under consideration. 
Who is to furnish, in this respect, the correct criterion; whose 
conduct is to be the standard of orthodoxy? What has been 
the great principle of the party to which the gentleman from 
Virginia refers, from the first existence of the government 
to the present day? An attachment to liberty, a devotion to 
the great cause of humanity, of freedom, of self-govern- 
ment, and of equal rights. If there is to be a division, as 
the gentleman says; if he is going to leave us, who are fol- 
lowing the old track, he may, in his new connexions, find 
a greater variety of company, which, perhaps, may indem- 
nify him for the loss of his old friends. What is the great 
principle that has distinguished parties in all ages and under 
all governments — democrats and federalists, whigs and to- 
ries, plebeians and patricians? The one, distrustful of human 
nature, appreciates less the influence of reason and of good 
dispositions, and appeals more to physical force; the other 
party, confiding in human nature, relies much upon moral 
power, and applies to force as an auxiliary only to the op- 
erations of reason. All the modifications and denominations 
of political parties and sects may be traced to this fundamen- 



MISSION TO BOUTH AMERICA 155 

tal distinction. It is that which separated the two great 
parties in this country. If there is to be a division in the re- 
publican party, I glory that I, at least, am found among those 
who are anxious for the advancement of human rights and 
of human liberty; and the honourable gentleman who spoke 
of appealing to the public sentiment, will find, when he does 
so, or [ am much mistaken, that public sentiment is also on 
the side of public liberty and of human happiness. 

But ihe gentleman from South Carolina, has told us, 
continued Mr. C. that the constitution has wisely confided 
to the executive branch of the government, the administra- 
tion of the foreign interests of the country. Has the honour- 
able gentleman attempted to show, though his proposition be 
generally true, and will never be controverted by me, that 
we also have not our participation in the administration of 
the foreign concerns of the country, when we are called upon 
in our legislative capacity, to defray the expenses of foreign 
missions, or to regulate commerce? Mr. C. said, he had stated, 
when up before, and he had listened in vain for an answer to 
the argument, that no part of the constitution had said which 
should have the precedence, the act making the appropria- 
tion for paying a minister, or the act of sending one. He 
had then contended, and now repeated, that either the acts 
of deputing and of paying a minister should be simultaneous, 
or, if either had the preference, the act of appropriating his 
pay should precede tlie sending of a minister. He challeng- 
ed gentlemen to show him any thing in the constitution which 
directed that a minister should be sent before his payment 
was provided for. He repeated, what he had said the other 
day, that, by sending a minister abroad, during the recess, 
to nations between whom and us no such relations existed 
as to justify incurring the expense, the legislative opinion 
was forestalled, or unduly biassed. He appealed to the prac- 
tice of the government, and referred to various acts of con- 
gress for cases of appropriations, without the previous de- 
putation of the agent abroad, and without the preliminary 
of a message from the president, asking for them. Mr. C. 
here quoted the act, authorising the establishment of certain 
consulates in the Mediterranean, and affixing salaries thereto, 
in consequence of which the president had subsequently ap- 
pointed consuls, who had been receiving their salaries to 
this day: other acts he quoted, of a similar character, from 
which it appeared, he said, that congress had constantly 



lee MISSION TO south America. 

pursued the great principle of the theory of the constitution, 
for which he now contended — that each department of the 
government must act within its own sphere, independently 
and on its own responsibility. It was alittle extraordinary, in- 
deed, after the doctrine which had been maintained the 
other day, of a sweeping right in congress to appropriate 
money to any object, that it should now be contended that 
congress had no right to appropriate money to a particular 
object. The gentleman's (Mr. Lowndes) doctrine was 
broad, comprehending every case; but, when proposed to 
be exemplified in any specific case, it did not apply. Mr. 
C. said, his theory of the constitution, on this particular 
subject, was that congress had the right of appropriating 
money for foreign missions; the president the power to use 
it. ihe president having the power, he was willing to say 
to him, " here is the money, which we alone have a right 
to appropriate, which will enable you to carry your power 
into effect, if it seems expedient to you." Both being before 
him, the power and the means of executing it, the president 
would judge, on his own responsibility, whether or not it 
was expedient to exercise it. In this course, Mr. C. said, 
each department of the government would act independent- 
ly, without influence from, and without interference with, 
the other. He had stated cases, from the statute book, to 
show, that, in instances where no foreign agent had been 
appointed, but only a possibility of there being appointed, 
appropriations had been made for paying them. He 
proceeded to show, that, even in the case of the subject 
matter of a negociation (a right much more important 
than that of sending an agent,) an appropriation of money 
had preceded the negociation of a treaty. Thus, in the 
third volume of the new edition of the laws, page twenty- 
seven, he (juoted a case of an appropriation of twenty-ftve 
thousand eight hundred and eighty dollars to defray the 
expense of such treaties as the president of the United States 
might deem proper to make with certain Indian tribes. An 
act, which had been lately referred to, appropriating two mil- 
lions for the purchase of the Floridas, was a case still more 
strongly in point, as contemplating a treaty, not with a savage, 
but a civilized power. In this case, there might have been, 
though he believed there was not, an executive message, re- 
commending the appropriation; but he took upon him to as- 
sert, that, in almost all the cases he had quoted, there was 
no previous executive intimation that the appropriation of 



MISSION TO SOUTH AMERICA. 167 

the money was necessary to the object — but congress had 
taken up the subjects, and authorized these appropriations, 
without any official call from the executive to do so. 

With regard to the general condition of the provinces now 
in revolt against the parent country, Mr. C. proceeded to 
say, he would not take up much of the time of the house. 
Gentlemen were, however, much mistaken as to many of the 
points of their history, geography, commerce and produce, 
which had been touched upon. Cientlemen had supposed 
there would be from those countries a considerable competi- 
tion of the same products which we export. Mr. C. ventured 
to say, that, in regard to Mexico, there could be no such com- 
petition, thai the table lands were at such a distance from the 
sea shore, and the difficulty of reaching it was so so great as 
to make the transportation to La Vera Cruz too expensive 
to be borne, and the heat so intense as to destroy the bread 
stuflfs as soon as they arrive. With respect to New Grenada, 
the gentleman from Maryland was entirely mistaken. It 
was the elevation of Mexico, principally, which enabled it 
to produce bread stuffs; but New Grenada, lying nearly under 
the line, could not produce them. The productions of new 
Grenada for exportation were the precious metals, (of which, 
of gold particularly, a greater portion was to be found than 
in any of the provinces except Mexico) sugar, coffee, cocoa, 
and some other articles of a similar character. Of Venezuela 
the principal productions were coffee, cocoa, indigo, and some 
sugar. Sugar was also produced in all the Guianas, French, 
Spanish, and Dutch. The interior of the provinces of La 
Plata might be productive of bread stuffs, but they were too 
remote to come into competition with us in the West India 
market, the voyages to the United States generally occupy- 
ing from fifty to sixty days, and sometimes as long as ninety 
days. By deducting from that number the average passage 
from the United States to the West Indies, the length of 
the usual passage between Buenos Ayres and the West In- 
dies would be found, and would show that, in the supply of 
the West India market with bread stuffs, the provinces could 
never come seriously into competition with us. And, with 
regard to Chili, productive as it might be, did the gentle- 
man from Maryland suppose that vessels were going to 
double Cape Horn, and come into competition with us in the 
West Indies? It was impossible. But, Mr. C. said, he felt 
a reluctance at pursuing the discussion of this part of the 



168 MISSION TO SOUTH AMERICA. 

question; because he was sure these were considerations on 
which the house could not act, being entirely unworthy of the 
subject. We might as well stop all our intercourse with Eng- 
land, with France, or with the Baltic, whose products are 
in many respects the same as ours, as to act on the present 
occasion under the influence of any such considerations. It 
was too selfish, too mean a principle, for this body to act on, 
to refuse its sympathy for the patriots of tht- south, because 
some little advantage of a commercial nature mignt be re- 
tained to us from their remaining in the present condition — 
which, however, he totally denied. Three fourths of the 
productions of the Spanish provinces were the precious me- 
tals, and the greater part of the residue not of the same char- 
acter as the staple productions of our soil. But, it seemed, 
that a pamphlet had recently been published on this subject, 
to which gentlemen had referred, — Now, said JVlr. C. per- 
mit me to express a distrust of all pamphlets of this kind, 
unless we know their source. It may, for aught 1 know, if 
not composed at the instance of the Spanish minister, have 
been written by some merchant who hab a privilege of trad- 
ing to Lima under royal license; for such do exist, as I 
am informed, and some of them procured under the agency 
of a celebrated person by the name of Sarmiento, of whom 
perhaps the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Smith) could 
give the house some information. To gentlemen thus pri- 
vileged to trade with the Spanish provinces under royal au- 
thority, the effect of a recognition of the independence of 
the provinces would be to deprive them of that monopoly. 
The reputed author of the pamphlet in question, Mr. C. 
said, if he understood correctly, was one who had been, if 
he were not now deeply engaged in the trade, and he would 
venture to say that many of his statements were incorrect. 
In relation to the trade ot Mexico, Mr. C. said, he happen- 
ed to possess the Koyal Gazette of Mexico of 1804, show- 
ing what was the trade of that province in 1803; from which 
it appeared that, without making allowance for the trade 
from the Philippine Islands to Acapulco, the imports into the 
port of Vera Cruz were in that year twenty-two millions in 
value, exclusive of contraband, the amount of which was 
very considerable. Among these articles were many which 
the United States could supply as well, if not on better terms, 
than they could be supplied from any other quarter; for ex- 
ample, brandy and spirits; paper, iron, implements for agri- 



MISSION TO SOUTH AMERICA. 169 

culture and the mines; wax, spices, naval stores, salt fish, 
butter, provisions; these articles amounting, in the whole, to 
one-seventh part of the whole import trade to Mexico. 
With regard to the independence of that country, which gen- 
tlemen seemed to think improbable, Mr. C. rejoiced that he 
was able to congratulate the house that we have, this morn- 
ing, intelligence that Mina yet lives, and the patriot flag is 
still unfurled, and the cause infinitely more prosperous than 
ever. This intelligence, he was much in hopes, would prove 
true, notwithstanding the particular accounts of his death; 
which, there was so much of fabrication and falsehood in the 
Spanish practice, were not entitled to credit unless corrobo- 
rated by other information. Articles were manufactured 
in one province to produce effect on other provinces, and 
in this country; and he had therefore always been disposed 
to think that the details respecting the capture and execution 
of Mina were too minute to be true, and were made up to 
produce an effect here. 

With regard to the general value of the trade of a country, 
Mr. C. said, itis tobedeterminedby the quantum of its popu- 
lation, and its character, its productions, and the extent and 
character of the territory; and applying these criteria to 
Spanish America, no nation offered higher inducements to 
commercial enterprize. Washed on the one side by the Pa- 
cific, on the other by the South Atlantic, standing between 
Africa and Europe on the one hand, and Asia on the other, 
lying along side of the United States; her commerce must, 
when free from the restraints of despotism, be immensely im- 
portant; particularly when it is recollected how great a propor- 
tion of the precious metals it produced — for that nation which 
can command the precious metals, may be said to command 
almost the resources of the world. One moment, said Mr. C. 
imagine the mines ofthe South locked up from Great Britain 
for two years, what would be the effect on her paper system? 
Bankruptcy, explosion, revolution. Even if the supply which 
we get abroad ofthe precious metals was cut off for any length 
of time, I ask if the effect on our paper system would not 
be, not perhaps equally as fatal as to England, yet one of the 
greatest calamities which could befall this country. The 
revenue of Spain in Mexico alone, was in 1809, twenty mil- 
lions of dollars, and in the other provinces in about the same 
proportion, taking into view their population, independent 
of the immense contributions annuallv paid to the clergy. 
Z 



170 MISSION TO SOUTH AMERICA. 

When you look at the resources of the country, and the ex- 
tent of its population, recollecting that it is double our ownj 
that its consumption of foreign articles, under a free com- 
merce would be proportionally great; that it yields a large 
revenue under the most abominable system, under which 
nearly three-fourths of the population are unclad, and almost 
as naked as from the hands of nature, because absolutely de- 
prived of the means of clothing themselves, what may not 
be the condition of this country, under the operation of a dif- 
ferent system which would let industry develop its resour- 
ces in all possible forms? Such a neighbour could not but be 
a valuable acquisition in a commercial point of view. 

Gentlemen had denied the fact of the existence of the in- 
dependence of Buenos Ayres at as early a date as he had 
assigned to it. The gentleman from South Carolina, who 
■was well informed on the subject, had not, Mr. C. thought, 
exhibited his usual candour on this part of it. When the 
gentleman talked of the Upper Provinces being out of the 
possession of the patriots as late as 1815, he ought to have 
gone back and told the house what was the actual state of 
the fact, with which he was sure the gentleman was very 
well acquainted. In 1811 the government of Buenos Ayres 
had been in possession of every fool of the territory of the 
Vice Royalty. The war had been raging from 1811 to 1815 
in those interior provinces, bordering on Lima, which had 
been as often as three times conquered by the enemy, and 
as often recovered, and from which the enemy was now 
finally expelled. Was this at all remarkable during the pro- 
gress of such a revolution? During the different periods of 
cur war of independence, the British had possession of dif- 
ferent parts of our country; as late as 1780, the whole of the 
southern states were in their possession; and at an earlier 
date they had possession of the great northern capitals. 
There was, in regard to Buenos Ayres, a distinguishing trait, 
which did not exist in the history of our revolution. That 
was, that from 18iO to the present day, the capital of the re- 
public of La Plata had been invariably in the possession of 
the patriot government. Gentlemen must admit that when, 
in 1814, she captured at Monte Video an army as large as 
Burgoyne's, captured at Saratoga, they were then in pos- 
session of independence. If they have been since 1810 in 
the enjoyment of self-government, it was, indetd, not very 
material under what name or under what form. The fact 



MISSION TO SOUTH AMERICA. tti 

of their independence is all that is necessary to be established. 
In reply to the argument of the gentleman from South Ca- 
rolina, derived from his having been unable to find out the 
number of the provinces, this arose from the circumstance 
that, thirty-six years ago, the Vice Royalty had been a Cap- 
the Generalship; that it extended then only to Tucuman, 
whilst of late and at present the government extended to 
the Desaguedera, in about the sixteenth degree of south la- 
titude. There were other reasons why there was some con- 
fusion in the number of the provinces, as stated by different 
writers; there was, in the first place, a territorial division of 
the country — then a judicial, and next a military division, 
and the provinces have been stated at ten, thirteen, or twen- 
ty, according to the denominations used. This, however, 
he, with the gentleman from South Carolina, regarded as a 
fact of no sort of consequence. 

Mr. C. said he would pass over the report lately made 
to the house by the department of state, respecting the state 
of South America, with only one remark; that it appeared to 
him to exhibit evidence of an adroit and experienced dip- 
lomatist, negociating, or rather conferring on a subject, with 
a young and inexperienced minister, from a young and in- 
experienced republic. From the manner in which this re- 
port was communicated, after a call for information so long 
made, and after a lapse of two months from the last date in 
the correspondence on the subject, Mr. C. declared he was 
mortified at hearing the report read. Why talk of the mode 
of recognition? Why make objections to the form of the 
commission? If the minister had not a formal power, why 
not tell him to send back for one? Why ask of him to enu- 
merate the particular states whose independence he wished 
acknowledged? Suppose the French minister had asked of 
Franklin, what number of states he represented'' Thirteen, 
if you please, Franklin would have replied. But M. Frank- 
lin, will you tell me if Pennsylvania, whose capital is in 
possession of the British, be one of them? What would Dr. 
Franklin have said? Mr. C. said it would have comported 
better with the frankness of the American character, and 
of American diplomacy, if the secretary, avoiding cavils 
about the form of the commission, had s<tid to the minister 
of Buenos Ayres, " at the present moment we do not intend 
to recognize you, or to receive or send a minister to you." 

But among the charges which gentlemen had industripus- 



172 MISSION TO SOUTH AMERICA. 

ly brought together, the house had been told of factions pre- 
vailing in Buenos Ayres. Do not factions, Mr. C asked, 
exist every where? Are they not to be found in the best re- 
gulated and most firmly established governments? Respect- 
ing the Carreras, public information was abused, Mr. C. 
said; they were supposed to have had improper views, de- 
signs hostile to the existing government, and it became ne- 
cessary to deprive them of the power of doing mischief. 
And what was the fact, respecting the alleged arrest of 
American citizens? Buenos Ayres had been organizing 
an army to attack Chili. Carrera arrives at the river La 
Plata with some North Americans: he had before defeated 
the revolution in Chili by withholding his co-operation: the 
government of Buenos Ayres therefore said to him, we do 
not want your resources; our own army is operating; if you 
carry yours there it may produce dissention, and cause the 
loss of liberty — you shall not go. On his opposing this 
course, what was done which has called forth the sympathy 
of gentlemen? He and those who attended him from this 
country, were put in confinement,but only long enough to per- 
mit the operations of the Buenos Ayrean army to go on; they 
were then permitted to go, or made their escape, to Monte 
Video, and afterwards, where they pleased. With respect 
to the conduct of that government, he would only recall the 
attention of gentlemen to the orders which had lately eman- 
ated from it, for the regulation of privateers, which had dis- 
played a solicitude to guard against irregularity, and to res- 
pect the rights of neutrals, not inferior to that ever shown 
by any government, which had on any occasion attempted 
to regulate this licentious mode of warfare. 

The honorable gentleman from Georgia had commenced 
his remarks the other day by an animadversion, which, Mr, 
C. said, he might well have spared, when he told us that even 
the prayers of the chaplain of this house had been offered up 
in behalf of the patriots. And was it reprehensible, Mr. C. 
asked, that an American chaplain, whose cheeks were furrow- 
ed by age, and his head as white as snow, who had a thousand 
times, during our own revolution, implored the smiles of hea- 
ven on our exertions — should indulge in the pious and patri- 
otic feelings flowing from his recollections of our own revolu- 
tion? Ought he to be subjectto animadversion for so doing,in 
a place where he could not be heard in reply? Ought he to be 
subject to animadversion for soliciting the favor of Heaven 



MISSION TO SOUTH AMERICA. 173 

on the same cause as that in which we fought the good fight, 
and conquered our independence? He trusted not. 

But the gentleman from Georgia, it appeared, could see 
no parallel between our revolution, and that of the Spa- 
nish provinces. Their revolution, in its commencement, 
did not aim at complete independence neither, Mr. C. said, 
did ours. Such was the loyalty of the Creole character, 
that, although groaning under three hundred years of ty- 
ranny and oppression, they had been unwilling to cast off 
their allegiance to that throne, which had been the throne 
of their ancestors. But, looking forward to a redress of 
wrongs, rather than a change of government, they gradually, 
and perhaps at first unintentionally, entered into revolution. 
— Mr. C. said he had it from those who had been actively 
engaged in our revolution: from that venerable man, (chan- 
cellor Wythe) whose memory he should ever cherish with 
filial regard, that a very short time before our Declaration 
of Independence, it would have been impossible to have got 
a majority of congress to declare it. Look at the language of 
our petitions of that day, carrying our loyalty to the foot of 
the throne, and avowing our anxiety to remain under the 
crown of our ancestors; independence was then not even re- 
motely suggested as our object. 

The present state of facts, and not what has passed and 
gone in South America, must be consulted. At the present 
moment, the patriots of the south are fighting for liberty 
and independence; for precisely what we fought. But their 
revolution, the gentleman told the house, was stained by 
scenes which had not occurred in ours. If so, Mr. Clay 
said, it was because execrable outrages had been commit- 
ted upon them by the troops of the mother country, which 
were not upon us. Could it be believed, if the slaves had 
been let loose upon us in the south, as they had been let 
loose in Venezuela; if quarters had been refused; capitula- 
tions violated; that general Washington, at the head of the 
armies of the United States, would not have resorted to re- 
tribution? Retaliation is sometimes mercy; mercy to both 
parties. The only means by which the coward soul that in- 
dulges in such enormities, can be reached, is to show to 
him, that they will be visited by severe but just retribution. 
There were traits in the history of this revolution, Mr. C. 
said, which showed what deep root liberty had taken in 
South America. He stated an instance. The only hope of 
a wealthy and reputable family, said he, was charged, at the 



174 MISSION TO SOUTH AMERICA. 

head of a small force, with the care of the magazine of the 
army. He saw that it was impossible to defend it. " Go,'* 
said he to his companions in arms, " I alone am sufficient 
for its defence." — The assailants approached; he applied a 
match and blew up the magazine, with himself, scattering 
death and destruction on his enemy. Mr. Clay narrated 
another instance of the intrepidity of a female of the patri- 
ot party. A lady in New Grenada, had given information 
to the patriot forces of plans and instructions by which the 
capital might be invaded. She was put upon the rack to 
divulge her accomplices. She bore the torture with the 
greatest fortitude, and died exclaiming — " you shall not 
hear it from my mouth; I will die, and may those live who 
can free my country." 

But the house had been asked, and asked with a triumph 
worthy of a better cause — why recognize this republic? 
"Where is the use of it? And was it possible, Mr. Clay 
said, that gentlemen could see no use in recognising this 
republic? For what did this republic fight? To be admit- 
ted into the family of nations. Tell the nations of the world, 
says Pueyrredon in his speech, that we already btlong to 
their illustrious rank. What would be the powerful conse- 
quences of a recognition of their claim? I ask my honora- 
ble friend before me, (general Bloomfield) (the high sanc- 
tion of whose judgment in favour of my proposition, I fond- 
ly anticipate) with what anxious solicitude, during our re- 
volution, he and his glorious compatriots turned their eyes 
to Europe, and asked to be recognized: I ask him, the pat- 
riot of '76, how the heart rebounded with joy, on the infor- 
mation that France had recognized us. The moral influence 
of such a recognition on the patriot of the south, will be ir- 
resistible. He will derive assurance from it of his not hav- 
ing fought in vain. In the constitution of our natures there 
is a point, to which adversity may pursue us, without per- 
haps any worse effect than that of exciting new energy to 
meet it. Having reached that point, if no gleam of com- 
fort breaks through the gloom, we sink beneath the pressure, 
yielding reluctantly to our fate, and in hopeless despair los- 
ing all stimulus to exertion. And, Mr. Clay asked, was 
there not reason to fear such a fate to the patriots of La 
Plata? Already enjoying independence for eight years, their 
ministers were yet spurned from the courts of Europe, and 
rejected by the government of a sister republic. Contrast 



MISSION TO SOUTH AMERICA. I75 

this conduct of ours, said Mr. Clay, with our conduct in 
other respects. No matter whence the minister comes, be 
it from a despotic power, we receive him: and even now, 
the gentleman from Maryland, (Mr. Smith) would have us 
send a minister to Constantinople, to beg a passage through 
the Dardanelles to the Black Si. a, that, I suppose, we might 
get some hemp and bread-stuffs there, of which we ourselves 
produce none — he who can see no advantage to the country 
from opening to its commerce the measureless resources of 
South America, would send a minister begging to Constan- 
tinople for a little trade. Nay, I have seen a project in the 
newspapers, and I should not be surprised, after what we 
have already seen, at its being carried into effect, for send- 
ing a minister to the Porte. Yes, sir, from Constantinople 
or from the Brazils; from Turk or Christian; from black or 
white; from the dey of Algiers or the bey of Tunis — from 
the Devil himself, if he wore a crown, we should receive a 
minister. We even paid the expenses of the minister of his 
sublime highness the bey of Tunis, and thought ourselves 
highly honored by his visit. But, let the minister come from 
a poor republic, like that of La Plata, and we turn our back 
on him. No, sir, we will not receive him. The brilliant cos- 
tumes of the ministers of the royal governments, are seen 
glistening in the circles of our drawing rooms, and their 
splendid equipages rolling through the avenues of the me- 
tropolis: but the unaccredited minister of the republic, if he 
visit our president or secretary of state at all, must do it 
incog: lest the eye of Don Onis should be offended by so 
unseemly a sight! Mr. Clay said, he hoped the gentleman 
from South Carolina, who was so capable of estimating the 
effect of moral causes, would see some use in recognizing 
the independence of La Plata. He appealed to the power- 
ful effect of moral causes, manifested in the case of the 
French revolution, when, by their influence, that nation 
swept from about her the armies of the combined powers, 
by which she was environed, and rose up the colossal pov/- 
er of Europe. There was an example of the effect of mo- 
ral power. All the patriots asked, all they wanted at our 
hands, was to be recognized as, what they had been for the 
last eight years, an independent power. 

But, it seems, said Mr. Clay, we dare not do this, lest 
we tread on sacred ground; and an honorable gentleman 
from Virginia, (Mr. Smyth) who, when he has been a lit- 



176 MISSION TO SOUTH AMERICA- 

tie longer in this house, will learn to respect its powers, calls 
it an usurpation on the part of this house. Has the gentle- 
man weighed the terms which he employed? If I mistake 
not, the gentleman, in the debate respecting the power to 
make internal improvements, called that too an usurpation 
on the part of this house. That power, too, however, he 
admitted to belong to the executive, and traced it to an im- 
perial source, informing us that Caesar or somebody else, 
had exercised it. Sir, the gentleman has mistaken his po- 
sition here: he is a military chieftain and an admirable de- 
fender of executive authority, but he has yet to learn his 
horn-book as to the powers of this branch of the legislature. 
Usurpation, Mr. Clay said, is arrogating to yourself autho- 
rity which is vested elsewhere. But what was it that he 
proposed, to which this term had been applied? To appro- 
priate money to pay a foreign minister his outfit and a year's 
salary. If that be an usurpation, said he, we have been 
usurping power from the commencement of the govern- 
ment to the present time. The chairman of the committee 
of ways and means has never reported an appropriation 
bill without some instance of this usurpation. 

There are three modes under our constitution, in which 
a nation may be recognized: by the executive receiving a 
minister; secondly, by its sending one thither; and, thirdly, 
this house unquestionably has the right to recognize, in the 
exercise of the constitutional power of congress to regu- 
late foreign commerce. To receive a minister from a for- 
eign power is an admission that the party sending him is 
sovereign and independent. So the sending a minister, as 
ministers are never sent but to sovereign powers, is a re- 
cognition of the independence of the power to whom the 
minister is sent. Now, the honorable gentleman from South 
Carolina would have preferred the expression of our opinion 
by a resolution, independent of the appropriation bill. If the 
gentleman would vote for it in that shape, 1 would really gra- 
tify him; all that I want to do is to convey to the president 
an expression of our willingness, that the government of 
Buenos Ayres should be recognized. Whether it shall be 
done by receiving a minister or sending one, is quite imma- 
terial. It is urged that there might be an impropriety in 
sending a minister, not being certain, after what had passed, 
that he would be received; but Mr. Clay said that was one 
of the questions submitted to the direction of the executive, 



MISSION TO SOUTH AMERICA. 177 

which he would determine, upon a view of all the circum- 
stances, and who of course would previously have an un- 
derstanding that our minister would be duly respected. If 
gentlemen desired to know what a minister from us was to 
do, Mr. Clay said he would have him congratulate the re- 
public on the establishment of free government and on their 
liberation from the ancient dynasty of Spain; assure it of 
the interest we feel in its welfare, and of our readiness to 
concur in any arrangement which might be advantageous to 
our mutual interest. Have we not, asked Mr. Clay, a min- 
ister at the Brazils, a nation lying along side of the provin- 
ces of La Plata, and considering the number of slaves in 
it, by no means so formidable as the latter, and about equi- 
distant from us. In reference to the strength of the two pow- 
ers, that of La Plata is much the stronger, and the govern- 
ment of Brazils, trembling under the apprehension of the 
effect of the arms of La Plata, has gone farther than any- 
other power to recognize its independence, having entered 
into a military convention with the republic, by which each 
power guarantees the possessions of the other. And we 
have exchanged ministers with the Brazils. The one, how- 
ever, is a kingdom^ the other a republic; and if any gentle- 
man could assign any other better reason why a minister 
should be sent to one and not to the other of these powers, 
he should be glad to hear it disclosed, for he had not been 
able himself to discover it. 

A gentleman had yesterday told the house that the news 
from Buenos A>res was unfavorable. Take it altogether, 
Mr. Clay said, he believed it was not. But, he said, he put 
but little trust in such accounts. In our revolution, incre- 
dulity of reports and newspaper stories, propagated by the 
enemy, had been so strengthened by experience, that at last 
nothing was believed which was not attested by the signa- 
ture of " Charles Thomson." Mr. Clay said he was some- 
what similarly situated; he could not believe these reports — 
he wished to see '' Charles Thomson" before he gave full 
credit to them. The vessel which had arrived at Baltimore, 
and which, by the way, by its valuable cargo of specie, hides, 
and tallow, gave evidence of a commerce worth pursuing — 
brought some rumor of a difference between Artigas and 
the authorities of Buenos Ay res. With respect to the Ban- 
da Oriental, which was said to be occupied by Artigas, Mr. 
Clay said it constituted but a very subordinate part of the 
A a 



178 MISSION TO SOUTH AMERICA. 

territory of the United Provinces of La Plata; and it could 
be no more objection to recognizing the nation because that 
province was not included within its power, than it could 
have been to our recognition because several states held out 
against the adoption of the consMtution. Mr. Clay repeat- 
ed that before he attached any confidence to a letter not 
signed " Charles Thomson," he must know who the man 
is who writes it; what are his sources of information, his 
character for veracity, &c. and of all those particulars we 
■were deprived of information in the case of the recent in- 
telligence in the Baltimore papers, as extracted from pri- 
vate letters. 

But, said Mr. Clay, we are charged, on the present occa- 
sion, with treading on sacred ground. Let me suppose, 
what I do not believe would be the case, that the president 
had expressed an opinion one way, and we another. At so 
early a period of our government, because a particular in- 
dividual fills the presidential chair; an individual whom I 
highly respect, more perhaps than some of those who would 
be considered his exclusive friends, is the odious doctrine 
to be preached here, that the chief magistrate can do no 
wrong? Is the doctrine of passive obedience and non-resist- 
ance — are the principles of the Stewarts, to be revived in 
this free government? Is an opinion to be suppressed and 
scouted because it is in opposition to the opinion of the pre- 
sident? Sir, as long as I have a seat on this floor, I shall not 
hesitate to exert the independence which belongs to the re- 
presentative character — I shall not hesitate to express my 
opinions, coincident or not with those of the executive. 
But, Mr. Clay said that he could show that this cry had 
been raised on the present occasion, without reason. He 
supposed a case: that the president had sent a minister to 
Buenos Ayres, and this house had been called on to make 
an appropriation for the payment of his salary. He asked 
of gentlemen whether in that case they would not have 
voted an appropriation? And had not the house a right to 
deliberate on the propriety of doing so, as well before as 
after a minister was sent? Would gentlemen please to point 
out the difference? I contend, said Mr- Clay, that we are 
the true friends of the executive; and that the title does not 
belong to those who have taken it. We wish to extend his 
influence, and give him patronage; to give him means, as 
he has now the power, to send another minister abroad. 



MISSION TO SOUTH' AMERICA. I79 

But, apart from this viAvy of the qu'estion, as regarded the 
executive power, this house, Mr. Cl&y said, had the incon- 
testible right to recogruze a foreign* nation in the exercise 
of its power to regulate commerce'.. with foreign nations. 
Suppose, for example, we passed air act to regulate trade 
between the United States and Buenos Ayres, the existence 
of the nation would bd thereby recognized — as we could 
not regulate trade with a nation which does not exist. 

The gentleman from Maf-yland, (Mr. Smith) and the 
gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. Smyth )_^the great cham|iion 
of executive power, and the opponent of legislative autho- 
rity, had contended that recognition wot^d be cause of war. 
Mr. Clay said these ge^ntlemen were reduced to this dilem- 
ma. If it was cause of war the executi« ought not to have 
the right to produce a \%ar upon the co.untry without con- 
sulting congress. If it was no cause qi war, it is an act 
which there was no danger in performii^. There would be 
very little difference in principle betweertVvesting the execu- 
tive with the power of declaring war, q* with the power 
of necessarily leading the country into yar, without con- 
sulting the authority to whom the pow^jr of making war is 
confided. But Mr. ^ay denied that it was cause of war: 
but, if it were, the sense of congress ought certainly in 
some way or other to be taken on it, before that step was 
taken. He knew, he said, that some of the most distinguish- 
ed statesmen in the country, had taken the view of this sub- 
ject, that the power to recognize the independence of any 
nation did not belong to the president; that it was a power 
too momentous and consequential in its character to belong 
to the executive. His own opinion, Mr. Clay confessed, 
was different, believing the povjer to belong to either the 
president or congress, and that it might, as most conveni- 
ent, be exercised by either. If aid was to be given, to af- 
ford which would be cause of war*, however, congress alone 
could give it. 

This house, then, Mr. Clay said, had the power to act on 
this subject, even thqugh the president had expressed his 
opinion; which he had not, further than, as appeared by the 
report of the secretary of state, to decide that in January 
last, it would not be proper to recognize them. But, Mr. 
Clay said, the president stood pledged to recognize the re- 
public, if, on the return of the commissioners, whom he has 
deputed, they should make report favorable to the stability 



180 MISSION ^TO SOUTH AMERICA. 

of the government. Those commieiioners sailed in Decem- 
ber last, and might be expected to return in three or four 
months from this time. When they returned, then, congress 
Avould not be in session. The m-esident thus standing 
pledged, said Mr. Clay, I ask, if We, who are disposed to 
invest him with the means of recognizing that indepen- 
dence, of redeeming his pledge, art not the true friends of 
the executive, and \\hether the opponents of this motion do 
not act as though they were t^t his friends; Suppose the 
chairman of the committee of foreign relations had report- 
ed a provision for an appropriation of that description which 
I propose, said Mr. Clay, should we not all have voted for 
it? And could any |[entlemarii be so pliant, as on the mere 
ground of an executive recommendation, to vote an appro- 
priation without exercising his ov*n faculties on the ques- 
tion; and yet, when there is no such suggestion, will not 
even so far act for himself as to determine whether a re- 
public is so independent that we may fairly take the step of 
recognition of it?' He hoped that no such submission to the 
executive pleasure would characterize this house. 

One more remark, and, Mr. Clay said, he had done. One 
gentleman told the house that the poplilation of the Spanish 
provinces was eighteen millions; that we, with a population 
of two millions only, had conquered our independence — 
and that, if the southern provinces willed it, they must be 
free. This population, Mr. Clay said, he had already stated, 
consisted of distinct nations, having l^t little, if any, inter- 
course, the largest of which was Mexico; and they were 
so separated by immense distances, that it was impossible 
there should be any co-op«^ation between them. Besides, 
they have difficulties to encounter which we had not. They 
have a noblesse; they are divided into jealous castes, and a 
vast proportion of Indians — to which adding the great in- 
fluence of the clergy, and it would be seen how widely dif- 
ferent the circumstances of Spanish America were from 
those under which the revolution in thislcountry was brought 
to a successful termination. He had already shown how 
deep rooted was the spirit of liberty in that country. He 
instanced the little island of Margarita, against which the 
whole force of Spain had been in vain directed; containing 
a population of only sixteen thousand souls, but where every 
man, woman and child was a Grecian soldier in defence of 
ireedom. For many years the spirit of freedom had been 



MISSION TO SOUTH AMERICA. 181 

struggling in Venezuela, and Spain had been unable to con- 
quer it. Morillo, in an official despatch transmitted to the 
minister of marine of his own country, avows that Angos- 
tura and all Guayana are in possession of the patriots, as 
well as all the country from which supplies could be drawn. 
According to the last accounts, Bolivar and other patriot 
commanders were concentrating their forces and were with- 
in one day's march of Morillo; and if they did not forsake 
the Fabian policy, which was the true course for them, the 
result would be that even the weakest of the whole of the 
provinces of Spanish America, would establish its indepen- 
dence, and secure the enjoyment of those rights and bless- 
ings which rightfully belong to it. 



182 



ON THE TARIFF. 



iSpeech on the Tariffs delivered in the House of ifepre&enta- 
tives^-26th Aprzl^ 1820. 

Mr. Chairman: Whatever may be the value of my opi- 
nions on the interesting subject now before us, they have not 
been hastily formed. It may possibly be recollected by some 
gentlemen, that I expressed them when the existing tariff 
was adopted: and that I then urged, that the period of the 
termination of the war, during which the manufacturing in- 
dustry of the country had received a powerful spring, was 
precisely that period when government was alike impelled, 
by duty and interest, to protect it against the free admission 
of foreign fabrics, consequent upon a state of peace. I in- 
sisted, on that occasion, that a less measure of protection 
would prove more efficacious, at that time, than one of 
greater extent at a future day. My wishes prevailed only in 
part; and we are now called upon to decide whether we will 
correct the error which, I think, we then committed. 

In considering the subject, the first important inquiry that 
we should make is, whether it be desirable that such a por- 
tion of the capital and labor of the country should be em- 
ployed, in the business of manufacturing, as would furnish 
a supply of our necessary wants? Since the first colonization 
of America, the principal direction of the labor and capital 
of the inhabitants has been to produce raw materials for the 
consumption or fabrication of foreign nations. We have al- 
ways had, in great abundance, the means of subsistence, 
but we have derived chiefly from other countries our clothes, 
and the instruments of defence. Except during those inter- 
ruptions of commerce arising from a state of war, or from 
measures adopted for vindicating our commercial rights, 
we have experienced no very great inconvenience heretofore 
from this mode of supply. The limited amount of our sur- 
plus produce, resulting from the smallness of our numbers, 
and the long and arduous convulsions of Europe, secured 
us good markets for that surplus in her ports or those of 
her colonies. But those convulsions have now ceased, and 
our population has reached nearly ten millions. A new epoch 



ON THE TARIFF. Ig3 

has arisen; and it becomes us deliberately to contemplate 
our own actual condition, and the relations which are likely 
to exist between us and the other parts of the world. The 
actual state of our population, and the ratio of its progres- 
sive increase when compared with the ratio of the increase 
of the population of the countries which have hitherto con- 
sumed our raw produce, seem, to me, alone to demonstrate 
the necessity of diverting some portion ot our industry from 
its accustomed channel. We double our population in about 
the term of twenty -five years. If there be no change in the 
mode of exerting our industry, we shall double, during the 
same term, the amount of our exportable produce. Europe, 
including such of her colonies as we have free access to, 
taken altogether, does not duplicate her population in a 
shorter term, probably, than one hundred years. The ratio 
of the increase of her capacity of consumption, therefore, is, 
to that of our capacity of production, as one is to four. And 
it is manifest, from the simple exhibition of the powers of 
the consuming countries, compared v;ith those of the sup- 
plying country, that the former are inadequate to the latter. 
It is certainly true, that a portion of the mass of our raw 
produce, which we transmit to her, reverts to us in a fabri- 
cated form, and that this return augments with our increas- 
ing population. This is, however, a very inconsiderable ad- 
dition to her actual ability to afford a market for the pro- 
duce of our industry. 

I believe that we are already beginning to experience the 
want of capacity in Europe to consume our surplus produce. 
Take the great articles of cotton, tobacco, and bread-stuffs. 
For the latter we have scarcely any foreign demand. And 
is there not reason to believe that we have reached, if we 
have not passed, the maximum of the foreign demand for 
the other two articles? Considerations connected with the 
cheapness of cotton, as a raw material, and the facility with 
which it can be fabricated, will probably make it be more 
and more used as a substitute for other materials. But, after 
you allow to the demand for it the utmost extension of 
which it is susceptible, it is yet quite limited — limited by the 
number of persons who use it, by their wants, and their 
abilitN to supply them. If we have not reached, therefore 
the maximum of the foreign demand, (as I believe we have) 
we must soon lully satisfy it. With respect to tobacco, that 
article affording an enjoyment not necessary, as food and 



1S4, ON THE TARIFF. 

clothes are^ to human existence, the foreign demand for it 
is still more precarious, and I apprehend that we have al- 
ready passed its limits. It appears to me, then, that, if 
we consult our interest merely, we ought to encourage home 
manufactures. But there were other motives to recommend 
it, of not less importance. 

The wants of man may be classed under three great 
heads — food, raiment, and defence. They are felt alike in 
the state of barbarism and of civilization. He must be de- 
fended against the lerocious beasts ot prey in the one con- 
dition, and against the ambition, violence, and injustice, in- 
cident to the other. 11 he seeks to obtain a supply of those 
wants without giving an equivalent, he is a beggar or a rob- 
ber; if, by promising an equivalent which he cannot give, he 
is fraudulent; and if, by a commerce, in which there is per- 
fect freedom on his side, whilst he meets with nothing but 
restrictions on the other, he submits to an unjust and degra- 
ding inequality. What is true of individuals is equally so 
of nations. The country, then, which relies upon foreign 
nations for either of those great essentials, is not, in fact, 
independent. Nor is it any consolation for our dependence 
upon other nations, that they also are dependent upon us, 
even were it true. Every nation should anxiously endea- 
vor to establish its absolute independence, and consequently 
be able to feed and clothe and defend itself. If it rely upon 
a foreign supply, that may be cut off by the caprice of the 
nation yielding it, by war with it, or even by war with other 
nations, it cannot be independent. But it is not true that 
any other nations depend upon us in a degree any thing like 
equal to that of our dependence upon them, for the great 
necessaries to which I have referred. Every other nation 
seeks to supply itself with them from its own resources; and, 
so strong is the desire which they feel to accomplish this 
purpose, that they exclude the cheaper foreign article for 
the dearer home production. Witness the English policy in 
regard to corn. So selfish, in this respect, is the conduct of 
other powers, that, in some instances, they even prohibit the 
produce of the industry of their own colonies, when it comes 
into competition with the produce of the parent country. All 
other countries but our own exclude, by high duties, or abso- 
lute prohibitions, whatever they can respectively produce 
within themselves. The truth is, and it is in vain to dis- 
guise it, that we are a sort of independent colonies of En- 



ON THE TARIFF. 185 

gland — politically free, commercially slaves. Gentlemen tell 
us of the advantages of a free exchange of the produce of 
the world. But they tell us of what has never existed, does 
not exist, and perhaps never will exist. They invoke us to 
give perfect freedom on our side, whilst, in the ports of every 
other nation, we are met with a code of odious restrictions, 
shutting out entirely a great part of our produce, and let- 
ting in only so much as they cannot possibly do without. I 
■will hereafter examine their favourite maxim, of leaving 
things to themselves, more particularly. At present I will 
only say, that I too am a friend to free trade, but it must 
be a free trade of perfect reciprocity. If the governing con- 
sideration were cheapness; if national independence were 
to weigh nothing; if honor nothing; why not subsidize for- 
eign powers to defend us? why not hire Swiss or Hessian 
mercenaries to protect us? why not get our arms of all kinds, 
as we do, in part, the blankets and clothing of our soldiers, 
from abroad? We should probably consult economy by 
these dangerous expedients. 

But, say gentlemen, there are to the manufacturing sys- 
tem some inherent objections, which should induce us to 
avoid its introduction into this country: and we are warned 
by the example of England, by her pauperism, by the vices 
of her population, her wars, &c. It would be a strange or- 
der of providence, if it were true, that he should create 
necessary and indispensable wants, and yet should render 
us unable to supply them without the degradation or con- 
tamination of our species. 

Pauperism is, in general, the effect of an overflowing po- 
pulation. Manufactures may undoubtedly produce a redun- 
dant population; but so may commerce, and so may agri- 
culture. In this respect they are alike; and, from whatever 
cause the disproportion of a population to the subsisting fa- 
culty of a country, may proceed, its effect of pauperism is 
the same. Many parts of Asia would exhibit, perhaps as 
afflicting effects of an extreme prosecution of the agricultu- 
ral system, as England can possibly furnish, respecting the 
manufacturing. It was not, however, fair to argue from these 
extreme cases, against either the one system or the other. 
There are abuses incident to every branch of industry, to 
every profession. It would not be thought very just or wise 
to arraign the honourable professions of law and physic, be- 
cause the one produces the pettifoger, and the other the 
B b 



186 ON THE TARIFF. 

quack. Even in England it has been established by the dili- 
gf nt search of Colquhoun, from the most authentic evidence, 
the judicial records of the country, that the instances of 
crime were much more numerous in the agricultural than in 
the manufacturing districts; thus proving that the cause of 
wretchedness and vice, in that country, was to be sought for, 
not in this or that system, so much as in the fact of the 
density of its population. France resembles this country 
more than England, in respect to the employments of her 
population; and we do not find that there is any thing in the 
condition of the manufacturing portion of it which ought to 
dissuade us from the introduction of it into our own coun- 
try. But even France has not that great security against the 
abuses of the manufacturing system, against the effects of 
too great a density of population, which we possess in our 
■waste lands. Whilst this resource exists we have nothing to 
apprehend. Do capitalists give too low wages; are the la- 
bourers too crowded, and in danger of starving? the unset- 
tled lands will draw off the redundancy, and leave the others 
better provided for. If an unsettled province, such as Texas, 
for example, could, by some convulsion of nature, be waft- 
ed along side ot, and attached to, the island of Great Britain, 
the instantaneous effect would be, to draw off the redundant 
portion ot the population, and to render more comfortable 
both the emigrants and those whom they would leave behind. 
I am aware that whilst the public domain is an acknowledg- 
ed security against the abuses of the manufacturing, or any 
other system, it constitutes, at the same time, an impedi- 
ment, in the opinion of some, to the success of manufactur- 
ing industry, by its tendency to prevent the reduction of the 
wages of labor. Those who urge this objection have their 
eyes too much fixed on the ancient system of manufacturing, 
when manual labor was the prmcipal instrument which it 
employed. During the last half century, since the inventions 
of Arkwright, and the long train of improvements which 
followed, the labor of machinery is principally used. I have 
understood, from sources of information which 1 believe to 
be accurate, that the combined force of all the machinery 
employed by Great Britain, in manufacturing, is equal to 
the laljor of one hundred millions of able bodied men. If 
we suppose the aggregate of the labor of all the individuals 
which she employs in that branch of industry, to be equal 
to the united labor of two millions of able bodied men, (and 



ON THE TARIFF. 18^ 

I should think it does not exceed it,) machine labor will 
stand to manual labor, in the proportion of one hundred to 
two. There cannot be a doubt that we have skill and enter- 
prise enough to command the requisite amount of machine 
power. 

There are, too, some checks to emigration from the settled 
parts of our country to the waste lands of the west. Dis- 
tance is one, and it is every day becoming greater and great- 
er. There exists, also, a natural repugnance (ith less, it is 
true, in the United States than elsewhere, but felt even 
herej to abandoning the place of our nativity. Women and 
children, who could not migrate, and who would be com- 
paratively idle if manufactures did not exist, may be profit- 
ably employed in them. This is a very great benefit. 1 wit- 
nessed the advantage resulting from the employment of this 
description of our population, in a visit which I lately made 
to the Waltham manufactory, near Boston. There, some 
hundreds of girls and boys were occupied in separate apart- 
ments. The greatest order, neatness, and apparent comfort 
reigned throughout the whole establishment. The daugh- 
ters of respectable farmers — in one instance I remember the 
daughter of a senator in the state legislature, were usefully 
employed. They would come down to the manufactory, 
remain perhaps some months, and return, with their earn- 
ings, to their families, to assist them throughout tlie year. 
But one instance had occurred, I was informed by the intel- 
ligent manager, of doubtful conduct on the part of anv of 
the females, and, afier she was dismissed, there was reason 
to believe that injustice had been done her. Suppose that 
establishment to be destroyed, what would become of all 
the persons who are there engaged so beneficially to them- 
selves, and so usefully to the state? Can it be doubted that 
if the crowds of little mendicant boys and girls who infest 
this edifice, and assail us, every day, at its very thresholds, 
as we come in and go out, begging for a cent, were employ- 
ed in some manufacturing establishment, it would be better 
for them and the city? 1 hose who object to the manufac- 
turing system, should recollect, that constant occupation is 
the best security for innocence and virtue; and that idit ness 
is the parent of vice and crime. They should contemplate 
the labouring poor with employment, and ask themselves 
what would be their condition without it. If there are in- 
stances of hard task masters among the manufacturers, so 



188 ON THE TARIFF, 

also are there In agriculture. The cause is to be sought for, 
not in the nature of this or that system, out in the nature of 
man. If there are particular species of unhealthy employ- 
ment in manufactures, so there are in agriculture also. There 
has been an idle attempt to ridicule the manufacturing sys- 
tem, and we have heard the expression " spinning jenny 
tenure." It is one of the noblest inventions of human skill. 
It has diffused comforts among thousands who, without it, 
would never have enjoyed them; and millions yet unborn 
will bless the man by whom it was invented. Three impor- 
tant inventions have distinguished the last half century, each 
of which, if it had happened at long intervals of time from 
the other, would have been sufficient to constitute an epoch 
in the progress of the useful arts. The first was that of 
Arkwright; and our own country was entitled to the merit 
of the other two. The world is indebted to Whitney for the 
one, and to Fulton for the other. Nothing is secure against 
the shafts of ridicule. What would be thought of a man who 
should speak of a cotton gin tenure, or a steam boat tenure? 

In one respect there is a great difference in favor of man- 
ufactures, when compared with agriculture. It is the rapi- 
dity with which the whole manufacturing community avail 
themselves of an improvement. It is instantly communicated 
and put in operation. There is an avidity for improvement 
in the one system, an aversion from it in the other. The 
habits of generation after generation pass down the long 
tract of time in perpetual succession, without the slightest 
change in agriculture. The ploughman who fastens his 
plough to the tails of his cattle, will not own that there is 
any other mode equal to his. An agricultural people will 
be in the neighborhood of other communities who have 
made the greatest progress in husbandry, without advanc- 
ing in the slightest degree. Many parts of our country are 
one hundred years in advance of Sweden in the cultivation 
and improvement of the soil. 

It is objected, that the effect of the encouragement of 
home manufactures by the proposed tariff will be, to dimin- 
ish the revenue from the customs. The amount of the re- 
venue from that source will depend upon the amount of 
importations, and the measure of these will be the value of 
the exports from this country. The quantity of the export- 
able produce will depend upon the foreign demand; and 
there can be no doubt that, under any distribution of the 



ON THE TARIFF. 189 

labor and capital of this country from the greater allure- 
ments which agriculture presents than any other species of 
industry, there would be always a quantity of its produce 
sufficient to satisfy that demand. If there be a diminution 
in the ability of foreign nations to consume our raw pro- 
duce, in the proportion of our diminished consumption of 
theirs, under the operation of this system, that will be com- 
pensated by the substitution of a home to a foreign market, 
in the same proportion. It is true that we cannot remain in 
the relation of seller, only to foreign powers, for any length 
of time; but if, as I have no doubt, our agriculture will con- 
tinue to supply, as far as it can profitably, to the extent of 
the limits of the foreign demand, we shall receive not only 
in return many of the articles on which the tariff operates, 
for our own consumption, but they may also form the ob- 
jects of trade with South America and other powers, and 
our comforts may be multiplied by the importation of other 
articles. Diminished consumption in consequence of the 
augmentation of duties does not necessarily imply dimin- 
ished revenue. The increase of the duty may compensate 
the decrease in the consumption, and give you as large a 
revenue as you before possessed. 

Can any one doubt the impolicy of government resting 
solely upon the precarious resource of such a revenue? It 
is constantly fluctuating. It tempts us, by its enormous 
amount, at one time, into extravagant expenditure; and we 
are tlien driven, by its sudden and unexpected depression, 
into the opposite extreme. We are seduced by its flattering 
promises into expenses which we might avoid; and we are 
afterwards constrained, by its treachery, to avoid expenses 
which we ought to make. It is a system under which there 
is a sort of perpetual war, between the interest of the go- 
vernment and the interest of the people. Large importations 
fill the coffers of government, and empty the pockets of the 
people. Small importations imply prudence on the part of 
the people, and leave the treasury empty. In war the reve- 
nue disappears; in peace it is unsteady. On such a system 
the government will not be able much longer exclusively to 
rely. We all anticipate that we shall have shortly to resort 
to some additional supply of revenue within ourselves. I 
was opposed to the total repeal of the internal revenue. I 
would have preserved certain parts of it at least, to be ready 
for emergencies, such as now exist. And I am, for one, ready 
to exclude foreign spirits altogether, and substitute to the 



190 ON THE TARIFF. 

revenue levied on them a tax upon the spirits made within 
the country. No other nation lets in so much of foreign 
spirits as we do. By the encouragement of home industry 
you will lay a basis of internal taxation, when it gets strong, 
that will be steady and uniform, yielding alike in peace and 
in war. We do not derive our ability from abroad, to pay 
taxes. That depends upon our wealth and our industry; and 
it is the same whatever may be the form of levying the pub- 
lic contributions. 

But it is urged, that you tax other interests of the state 
to sustain manufacturers. The business of manufacturing, if 
encouraged, will be open to all. It is not for the sake of the 
particular individuals, who may happen to be engaged in it, 
that we propose to foster it; but it is for the general interest. 
We think that it is necessary to the comfort, and well being 
of society, that fabrication, as well as the business of produc- 
tion and distribution should be supported and taken care of. 
Now, if it be even true, that the price of the home fabric 
will be somewhat higher, in the first instance, than the rival 
foreign articles, that consideration ought not to prevent our 
extending reasonable protection to the home fabric. Present 
temporary inconvenience may be well submitted to for the 
sake of future permanent benefit. If the experience of all 
other countries be not utterly fallacious; if the promises of 
the manufacturing system be not absolutely illusory, by the 
competition which will be elicited, in consequence of your 
parental care, prices will be ultimately brought down to a 
level with that of the foreign commodity. Now, in a scheme 
of policy which is devised tor a nation, we should not limit 
our views to its operation, during a single year, or for even 
a short term of years. We should look at its operation for 
a considerable time, and in war as well as in peace. Can 
there be a doubt, thus contemplating it, that we shall be com- 
pensated by the certainty and steadiness of the supply, in 
all seasons, and the ultimate reduction of the price for any 
temporary sacrifices we make? Take the example of salt, 
which the ingenious gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Archer) 
has adduced. He says during the war the price of that ar- 
ticle rose to ten dollars per bushel, and he asks, if you 
would lay a duty, permanent in its duration, of three dol- 
lars per bushel to secure a supply in war. I answer no, I 
would not lay so high a duty. That which is now proposed, 
for the encouragement of the domestic production, is only 
five cents per bushel. In forty years the duty would amount 



Al 



ON THE TARIFF. 191 

enly to two dollars. If the recurrence of war, shall be only 
after intervals of forty years peace, (and we may expect it 
probably oftener,) and if, when it does come, the same price 
should again be given, there will be a clear saving of eight 
dollars, by promoting the domestic fabrication. All society 
is an affair of mutual concession. If we expect to derive the 
benefits which are incident to it, we must sustain our rea- 
sonable share of burthens. The great interests which it is 
intended to guard and cherish, must be supported by their 
reciprocal action and reaction. The harmony of its parts is 
disturbed — the discipline which is necessary to its order is 
incomplete, when one of the three great and essential bran- 
ches of its industry is abandoned and unprotected. If you 
want to find an example of order, of freedom from debt, of 
economy, of expenditure falling below, rather than exceeding 
income, you will go to the well regulated family of a farm- 
er. You will go to the house of such a man as Isaac Shelby. 
You will not find him haunting taverns, engaged in broils, 
prosecuting angry law suits. You will behold every member 
of his family clad with the produce of their own hands, and 
usefully employed; the spinning wheel and the loom in mo- 
tion by day break. With what pleasure will his wife carry 
you into her neat dairy, lead you into her store house, and 
point you to the table cloths, the sheets, the counterpanes 
which lie on this shelf for one daughter, or on that for ano- 
ther, all prepared in advance by her provident care for the 
day of their respective marriages. If you want to see an 
opposite example, go to the house of a man who manufac- 
tures nothing at home, whose family resorts to the store for 
every thing they consume. You will find him perhaps in the 
tavern, or at the shop at the cross roads. He is engaged, 
with the rum grog on the table, taking depositions to make 
out some case of usury or fraud. Or perhaps he is furnishing 
to his lawyer the materials to prepare a long bill of injunc- 
tion in some intricate case. The sheriff is hovering about his 
farm to serve some new writ. On court days (he never 
misses attending them,) you will find him eagerly collecting 
his witnesses to defend himself against the merchants' and 
doctors' claims. Go to his house, and, after the short and 
giddy period that his wife and daughters have flirted about 
the country in their calico and muslin frocks, what a scene 
of discomfort and distress is presented to you there! What 
the individual family of Isaac Shelby is, I wish to see the 



192 ON THE TARIFF. 

nation in the aggregate become. But I fear we shall short- 
ly have to contemplate its resemblance in the opposite pic- 
ture. If statesmen would carefully observe the conduct of 
private individuals in the management of their own affairs, 
they would have much surer guides, in promoting the in- 
terests of the state, than the visionary speculations of theo- 
retical writers. 

The manufacturing system is not only injurious to agri- 
culture, but, say its opponents, it is injurious also to foreign 
commerce. We ought not to conceal from ourselves, our 
present actual position, in relation to other powers. During 
the protracted war which has so long convulsed all Europe, 
and which will probably be succeeded by a long peace, we 
transacted the commercial business of other nations, and 
largely shared, with England, the carrying trade of the 
world. Now, every other nation is anxiously endeavouring to 
transact its own business, to rebuild its marine and to foster 
its navigation. The consequence of the former state of things 
was, that our mercantile marine and our commercial em- 
ployment were enormously disproportionate to the exchange- 
able domestic produce of our country. And the result of the 
latter will be, that, as the exchanges between this country 
and other nations will hereafter consist principally, on our 
part, of our domestic produce, that marine and that employ- 
ment will be brought down to what is necessary to effect 
those exchanges. 1 regret exceedingly this reduction. I wish 
the mercantile class could enjoy the same extensive com- 
merce that they formerly did. But, if they cannot, it would 
be a folly to repine at what is irrecoverably lost, and we 
should seek rather to adapt ourselves to the new circumstan- 
ces in which we find ourselves. If, as I think, we have 
reached the maximum of our foreign demand for our three 
great staples, cotton, tobacco, and flour, no man will contend 
that we should go on to produce more and more, to be sent 
to the glutted foreign market and consumed by devouring 
expenses, merely to give employment to our tonnage and our 
foreign commerce. It would be extremely unwise to accom- 
odate our industry to produce, not what was wanting abroad; 
but cargoes for our unemployed ships. I would give to our 
foreign trade every legitimate encouragement, and extend it 
whenever it can be extended profitably. Hitherto it had 
been stimulated too highly, bv the condition of the world, 
and our own policy acting on that condition. And we are re- 



ON THE TARIFF. 193 

iuctant to believe that we must submit to its necessary 
abridgment. The habits of trade; the tempting instances of 
enormous fortunes which had been made by the successful 
prosecution of it, were such that we turn with regret from 
its pursuit; we still cherish a lingering hope; we persuade 
ourselves that something will occur, how and what it may 
be, we know not, to revive its former activity; and we would 
push into every untried channel, grope through the Dar- 
danelles into the Black Sea, to restore its former profits. I 
repeat it, let us proclaim to the people of the United States 
the incontestible truth, that our foreign trade must be cir- 
cumscribed by the altered state of the world; and, leaving 
it in the possession of all the gains which it can now possi- 
bly make, let us present motives to the capital and labor of 
our country to employ themselves in fabrication at home. 
There was no danger that, by a withdrawal of that portion 
which is unprofitably employed on other objects, and an ap- 
plication of it to fabrication, our agriculture would be too 
much cramped. The produce of it would always come up 
to the foreign demand. Such were the superior allurements 
belonging to the cultivation of the soil to all other branches 
of industry, that it would always be preferred when it can 
profitably be followed. The foreign demand would, in any 
conceivable state of things, limit the amount of the export- 
able produce of agriculture. The amount of our exporta- 
tions would form the measure of our importations, and, 
whatever these may be, they will constitute the basis of the 
revenue derivable from customs. 

The manufacturing system is favourable to the mainte- 
nance of peace. Foreign commerce is the great source of 
foreign wars. The eagerness with which we contend for 
every branch of it; the temptations which it offers, operating 
alike upon us and our foreign competitors, produce constant 
collisions. No country on earth, by the extent of its superfi- 
cies, the richness of its soil, the variety of its climate, con- 
tains within its own limits more abundant faculties for supply- 
ing all our rational wants than ours does. It is not necessary 
or desirable, however, to cut off all intercourse with foreign 
powers. But, after securing a supply, within ourselves, of 
all the great essentials of life, there will be ample scope still 
left for preserving such an intercourse. If we had no inter- 
course with foreign states, if we adopted the policy of Chi- 
na, we should have no external wars. And in proportion as 
C c 



194 ON THE TARIFF. 

we diminish our dependence upon them, shall we lessen 
the danger of the recurrence of war. Our late war would 
not have existed if the counsels of the manufacturers in En- 
gland had been listened to. They finally did prevail, in their 
steady and persevering effort to produce a repeal of the 
orders in council; but it was too late to prevent the war. 
Those who attribute to the manufacturing s} stem the bur- 
thens and misfortunes of that country, commit a great error. 
These were probably a joint result of the operation of the 
whole of her systems, and the larger share of it was to be 
ascribed to her foreign commerce, and to the ambition of 
her rulers, than to any other cause. The war of our revolu- 
tion, in which that ambition displayed its monstrous arro- 
gance and pretensions, laid the broad foundation of that 
enormous debt under which she now groans. 

The tendency of reasonable encouragement to our home 
industry, is favourable to the preservation and strength of 
our confederacy. Now our connexion is merely political. 
For the sale of the surplus of the produce of our agricultu- 
ral labor, all eyes are constantly turned upon the markets of 
Liverpool. There is scarcely any of that beneficial inter- 
course, the best basis of political connexion which consists 
of the exchange of the produce of our labor. On our mari- 
time frontier there has been too much stimulus, an unnatu- 
ral activity; in the great interior of the country, there exists 
a perfect paralysis. Encourage fabrication at home and there 
would instantly arise animation and a healthful circulation 
throughout all the parts of the republic. The cheapness, and 
fertility, and quantity of our waste lands, offered such pow- 
erful inducements to cultivation, that our countrymen are 
constantly engaging in it. I would not check this disposition 
by hard terms in the sale of it. Let it be easily accessible 
to all who wish to acquire it. But I would countervail this 
predilection by presenting to capital and labor, motives for 
employment in other branches of industry. Nothing is more 
uncertain, than the pursuit of agriculture, when we mainly 
rely upon foreign markets for the sale of its surplus produce. 
In the first place, it is impossible to determine, a /?ri(?rz, the 
amount of this surplus; and, in the second, it is equally im- 
possible to anticipate the extent of the foreign demand. Both 
the one and the other depend upon the seasons. From the 
fluctuations incident to these, and from other causes, it may 
happen that the supplying country will, for a long series of 



ON THE TARIFF. I95 

years, have employed a larger share of its capital and labor 
than is wise, in production to supply the wants of the con- 
suming countries, without becoming sensible of its defect of 
policy. The failure of a crop, or the failure of a market, 
does not discourage the cultivator. He renews his labours 
another year, and he renews his hopes. It is otherwise with 
manufacturing industry. The precise quantum of its produce, 
at least, can with some accuracy be previously estimated. 
And the wants of foreign countries can be with some pro- 
bability anticipated. 

I am sensible, Mr. Chairman, if I have even had a suc- 
cess, which I dare not presume, in the endeavor I have 
been making to show that sound policy requires a diversion 
of so much of the capital and labor of this country from 
other employments as may be necessary, by a different ap- 
plication of them, to secure, within ourselves, a steady and 
adequate supply of the great necessaries of life, I shall have 
only established one half of what is incumbent upon me to 
prove. It will still be required by the other side, that a se- 
cond proposition be supported, and that is, that government 
ought to present motives for such a diversion and new appli- 
cation of labor and capital, by that species of protection 
which the tariff holds out- Gentlemen say, we agree with 
you; you are right in your first proposition, but, " let things 
alone," and they will come right in the end. Now, I agree 
with them, that things would ultimately get right; but not 
until after a long period of disorder and distress, terminat- 
ing in the impoverishment, and perhaps ruin of the country. 
Dissolve government, reduce it to its primitive elements, 
and, without any general effort to reconstruct it, there would 
arise, out of the anarchy which would ensue, partial com- 
binations for the purpose of individual protection, which 
would finally lead to a social form, competent to the conser- 
vation of peace within, and the repulsion of force from with- 
out. Yet no one would say, in such a state of anarchy, let 
things alone! If gentlemen, by their favourite maxim, mean 
only that, within the bosom of the state, things are to be 
left alone, and each individual, and each branch of indus- 
try, allowed to pursue their respective interests, without giv- 
ing a preference to either, I subscribe to it. But if they give 
it a more comprehensive import; if they require that things 
be left alone, in respect not only to interior action, but to 
exterior action also; not only as regards the operation of our 



19G ON THE TARIFF. 

own government upon the mass of the interests of the state, 
but as it relates to the operation of foreign governments 
upon that mass; I dissent from it. 

This maxim, in tliis enlarged sense, is indeed every where 
proclaimed; but no where practised. It is truth in the books 
of European political economists. It is error in the practi- 
cal code of every European state. It is not applied where it 
is most applicable; it is attempted to be introduced here, 
where it is least applicable; and even here its friends pro- 
pose to limit it to the single branch of manufacturing indus- 
try, whilst every other interest is encouraged and protected 
according to the policy of Europe. The maxim would best 
suit Europe, where each interest is adjusted and arranged to 
every other, by causes operating during many centuries. 
Every thing there has taken and preserved its ancient posi- 
tion. The house that was built centuries ago, is occupied by 
the desccndents of its original constructor. If one could rise 
up, after the lapse of ages, and enter a European shop, he- 
would see the same hammer at work, on the same anvil 
or last, and almost by the same hand. There every thing 
has found its place and its level, and every thing, one would 
think, might there be safely left alone. But the policy of the 
European states is otherwise. Here every thing is new and 
unfixed. Neither the state, nor the individuals who com- 
pose it, have settled down in their firm and permanent po- 
sitions. There is a constant tendency, in consequence of the 
extent of our public domain, towai'ds production for foreign 
markets. The maxim, in the comprehensive sense in wliich 
I am considering it, requires, to entitle it to observation, 
two conditions, neither of which exists. First, that there 
should be perpetual peace; and secondly, that the maxim 
should be every where respected. When war breaks out, 
that free and general circulation of the produce of industry, 
among the nations which it recommends, is interrupted, and 
the nation that depends upon a foreign supply of its neces- 
saries, must be subjected to the greatest inconvenience. If 
it be not every where observed, there will be, between the 
nation that does not, and the nation that does, conform to it, 
•m inequality alike condemned by honor and by interest. If 
there be no reciprocity; if, on the one side, there is perfect 
hcedom oi trade, and on the other a code of odious restric- 
tions, will gentlemen still contend that we are to submit tc 
fcuch an unprofitable and degrading intercourse? Will they 



ON THE TARIFF. jgy 

require that we shall act upon the social system, whilst eve- 
ry other power acts upon the selfish? Will they demand of 
us to throw widely open our ports to every nation, whilst all 
other nations entirely or partly occlude theirs against our 
productions? It is, indeed, possible, that some pecuniary 
advantage might be enjoyed by our country in prosecuting 
the remnant of the trade which the contracted policy of 
other powers leaves to us. But what security is there for 
our continuing to enjoy even that? And, is national honor, 
is national independence to count as nothing? 1 will not 
enter into a detail of the restrictions with which we are 
every where presented in foreign countries. I will content 
myself with asserting that they take nothing from us which 
they can produce themselves, upon even worse terms than 
we could supply them. Take, again, as an example, the En- 
glish corn laws. America presents the image of a fme 
generous hearted young fellow, who has just come to the 
possession of a rich estate — an estate, which, however, re- 
quires carelul management. He makes nothing; he buys 
every thing. He is surrounded by a parcel of jews, each 
holding out his hand with a packet of buttons or pins, or 
some other commodity, for sale. If he asks those jews to 
buy any thing which his state produces, ihey tell him no; it 
is not for our interest; it is not fur yours. Take this new 
book, says one of them, on political economy, and you will 
there perceive it is for your interest to buy from us, and to let 
things alone in your own country. The gentleman from Vir- 
ginia, to whom I have already referred, has surrendered 
the whole argument, in the example of the East India trade. 
He thinks that because India takes nothing but specie from 
us; because there is not a reciprocal exchange between us 
and India, of our respective productions, that the trade 
ought to be discontinued. Now I do not agree with him, 
that it ought to be abandoned, though i would put it under 
considerable restrictions, when it comes in competition with 
the fabrics of our own country. If the want of entire reci- 
procity be a suflicient ground for the total abandonment of 
a particular branch of trade, the same principle requires that, 
where there are some restrictions on the one side, they should 
be countervailed by equal restrictions on the other. 

But this maxim, according to which gentlemen would have 
us abandon the home industry of the country, to the influ- 
ence of the restrictive systems of other countries, without 
an effort to protect and preserve it, is not itself observed by 



198 »^N THE TARIFF. 

the same gentleman, in regard to the great interests of the 
nation. We protect our fisheries by bounties and drawbacks. 
We protect our tonnage, by excluding a restricting foreign 
tonnage, exactly as our tonnage is excluded or restricted by 
foreign states. We passed, a year or two ago, the bill to pro- 
hibit British navigation from the West India colonies of that 
power to the United States, because ours is shut out from 
them. The session, prior to the passage of that law, the gen- 
tleman from South Carolina and I, almost alone, urged the 
house to pass it. But the subject was postponed until the 
next session, when it was passed by nearly a unanimous 
vote; the gentleman from South Carolina, and the two gen- 
tlemen from Virginia, (Messrs. Barbour and Tyler,) voting 
with the majority. We have now upon our table other bills 
connected with that object, and proposing restriction upon 
the French tonnage to countervail theirs upon ours. I shall, 
with pleasure, vote for these measures. We protect our 
foreign trade, by consuls, by foreign ministers, by embar- 
goes, by non-intercourse, by a navy, by fortifications, by 
squadrons constantly acting abroad, by war, and by a variety 
of commercial regulations in our statute book. The whole 
system of the general government, from its first formation 
to the present time, consists almost exclusively, in one un- 
remitting endeavor to nourish, and protect, and defend the 
foreign trade. Why have not all these great interests been 
left to the operation of the gentlemen's favourite maxim? 
Sir, it is perfectly right that we should have afforded this 
protection. And it is perfectly right, in my humble opinion, 
that we should extend the principle to the home industry^ 
I am a friend to foreign trade, but I protest against its 
being the monopolist of all the parental favor and care of 
this government. 

But, sir, friendly as I am to the existence of domestic 
manufactures, I would not give to them unreasonable en- 
couragement, by protecting duties. Their growth ought 
to be gradual, but sure. I believe all the circumstances of 
the present period highly favorable to their success. But 
they are the youngest and the weakest interest of the state. 
Agriculture wants but little or no protection against the regu- 
lations of foreign powers. The advantages of our position, and 
the cheapness and abundance and fertility of our land, afford 
to that greatest interest of the state almost all the protection 
it wants. As it should be, it is strong and flourishingj or, if 



ON THE TARIFF. 199 

it be not, at this moment, prosperous, it is not because its 
produce is not ample, but because, depending as we do alto- 
gether upon a foreign market, for the sale of the surplus of 
that produce, the foreign market is glutted. Our foreign 
trade having almost exclusively engrossed the protecting 
care of government, wants no further legislative aid. And 
whatever depression it may now experience, it is attributable 
to causes beyond the control of this government. The abun- 
dance of capital, indicated by the avidity with which loans 
are sought, at the reduced rate of five per centum; the re- 
duction in the wages of labor; and the decline in the price 
of property of every kind, as well as that of agricultural 
produce, all concur favorably for domestic manufactures. 
Now, as when we arranged the existing tariff, is the auspi- 
cious moment for government to step in and cheer and coun- 
tenance them. We did too little then, and I endeavored 
to warn this house of the effects of inadequate protection. 
We were called upon, at that time, by the previous pledges 
we had given, by the inundation of foreign fabrics which 
was to be anticipated from their free admission after the 
termination of the war, and by the lasting interests of this 
country, to give them efficient support. We did not do it; 
but let us not now repeat the error. Our great mistake has 
been in the irregularity of the action of the measures of this 
government upon manufacturing industry. At one period 
it is stimulated too high, and then, by an opposite course 
of policy, it is precipitated into a condition of depression 
too low. First there came the embargo; then non-intercourse, 
and other restrictive measures followed, and finally that 
greatest of all stimuli to domestic fabrication, war. During 
all that long period we were adding, to the positive effect 
of the measures of government, all the moral encouragement 
which results from popular resolves, legislative resolves, 
and other manifestations of the public will and the public 
wish to foster our home manufactures, and to render our 
confederacy independent of foreign powers. The peace 
ensued, and the country was flooded with the fabrics of 
other countries; and we, forgetting all our promises, coolly 
and philosophically talk of leaving things to themselves; ma- 
king up our deficiency of practical good sense, by the stores 
of learning which we collect from theoretical writers. I, too, 
sometimes amuse myself with the visions of these writers 
(as I do with those of metaphysicians and novelists) and, if 



200 ON THE TARIFF. 

I do not forget, one of the best among them, enjoins it upon 
a country to protect its industry against the injurious in- 
fluence of the prohibitions and restrictions of foreign coun- 
tries, which operate upon it. 

Monuments of the melancholy effects, upon our manufac- 
tures, and of the fluctuating policy of the councils of the 
union in regard to them, abound in all parts of the country. 
Villages, and parts of villages, which sprung up but yes- 
terday in the western country, under the excitement to which 
I have referred, have dwindled into decay and are abandon- 
ed. In New England, in passing along the highway, one 
frequently sees large and spacious buildings, with the glass 
broken out of the windows, the shutters hanging in ruinous 
disorder, without any appearance of activity, and enveloped 
in solitary gloom. Upon inquiring what they are, you are 
almost always informed that they were some cotton or other 
factory, which their proprietors could no longer keep in mo- 
tion against the overwhelming pressure of foreign compe- 
tition. Gentlemen ask ior facts to show the expediency and 
propriety of extending protection to our manufactures. Do 
they want stronger evidence than the condition of things I 
have pointed out? They ask why the manufacturing in- 
dustry is not resumed under the encouraging auspices of 
the present time? Sir, the answer is obvious; there is a 
general dismay; there is a want of heart; there is the greatest 
moral discouragement experienced throughout the nation. 
A man who engages in the manufacturing business is thought 
by his friends to be deranged. Who will go to the site on 
which lie the ruins of Carthage or Balbec to rebuild a city 
there? Let government commence a systematic, but moderate 
support of this important branch of our industry. Let it 
announce its fixed purpose, that the protection of manufac- 
tures against the influence of the measures of foreign govern- 
ments will enter into the scope of our national policy. Let 
us substitute to the irregular action of our measures one 
that shall be steady and uniform: and hope and animation 
and activity will again revive. The gentleman from South 
Carolina (Mr. Lowndes) offered a resolution, which the 
house rejected, having for its object to ascertain the profits 
now made upon capital employed in manufacturing. It is 
not, I repeat it, the individuals, but the interests we wish 
to have protected. From the infinite variety of circum- 
stances under which different manufacturing establishments 



ON THE TARIFF. 201 

ure situated, it is impossible that any information, such as 
the gentleman desires, could be obtained, that ought to guide 
the judgment of this house. It may happen, that, of two 
establishments engaged in the same species of fabrication, 
one will be prospering and the other laboring. Take the ex- 
ample of the Waltham manufactory near Boston, and that 
of Brunswick in Maine. The former has the advantages 
of a fine water situation, a manager of excellent informa- 
tion, enthusiastically devoted to its success, a mechanist of 
most inventive genius, who is constantly making some new 
improvement, and who has carried the water loom to a de- 
gree of perfection which it has not attained in England; to 
such perfection as to reduce the cost of weaving a yard of 
cloth adapted to shirting to less than a cent per yard; while 
it is abundantly supplied with capital by several rich capi- 
talists in Boston. I'hese gentlemen have the most exten- 
sive correspondence with all parts of the United States. 
Owing to this extraordinary combination of favorable cir- 
cumstances, the Waltham establishment is doing pretty well. 
Whilst that of Brunswick, not possessing all of them, but 
perhaps as many as would enable it, under adequate pro- 
tection, to flourish, is labouring arduously. Would gentle- 
men infer, from the success of a few institutions having pe- 
culiar advantages, which form exceptions to the languishing 
condition of manufacturing industry, that there exists no 
necessity for protection? In the most discouraging state of 
trade and navigation, there were, no doubt, always some in- 
dividuals who were successful in prosecuting them. Would 
it be fair to argue from these instances, against any mea- 
sure brought forward to revive their activity? 

The gentleman from Massachusetts, (Mr. Whitman) has 
manifested peculiar hostility to the tariff, and has allowed 
himself to denominate it a mad, quixotic, ruinous scheme. 
The gentleman is dissatisfied with the quarter, (the west) 
from which it emanates. To give higher tone and more ef- 
fect to the gentleman's declamation, which is vague and in- 
definite, he has even assumed a new place in this house. 
Sir, I would advise the gentleman to return to his ancient 
position, moral and physical. It was respectable and useful. 
The honorable gentleman professes to be a friend to manu- 
facturers! And yet he has found an insurmountable consti- 
tutional impediment to their encouragement, of which, as no 
other gentleman has relied upon it, I shall leave him in the 
Dd 



202 ON THE TARIFF. 

undisturbed possession. The honorable gentleman a friend 
to manufacturers! And yet he has delivered a speech, mark- 
ed with peculiar emphasis, against their protection. The 
honorable gentleman a friend to manufacturers! And yet 
he requires (if his constitutional difficulty could be remov- 
ed) such an arrangement of the tariff as shall please him, 
although every one else should be dissatisfied. The inti- 
mation is notnevjT of the presumptuousness of western poli- 
ticians in endeavoring to give to the policy of this country 
such a direction as will assert its honor and sustain its in- 
terests. It was first made whilst the measures preparatory 
to the late war were under consideration, and it now proba- 
bly emanates from the same quarter. The predilection of 
the school of the Essex Junto for foreign trade and British 
fabrics (I am far from insinuating that other gentlemen who 
are opposed to the tariff are actuated by any such spirit) is 
unconquerable. We disregarded the intimation when it 
was first made; we shall be uninfluenced by it now. If, in- 
deed, there were the least color for the assertion, that the 
foreign trade is to be crushed by the tariff, is it not strange 
that the whole of the representation from all our great com- 
mercial metropolises should unite to destroy it? The mem- 
ber from Boston (to whose national and disinterested course 
I am happy, on this, as on many other occasions, to be able 
to testify;) the lepresentatives from the city of New York, 
from Philadelphia, and from Baltimore, all entered into this 
confederacy, to destroy it, by supporting this mad and ruin- 
ous scheme. Some gentlemen assert that it is too compre- 
hensive. But its chief recommendation to me is, that it 
leaves no important interest unprovided for. 

The same gentlemen, or others, if it had been more limit- 
ed, would have objected to its partial operation. The gene- 
ral measure of the protection which it communicates, is 
pronounced to be immoderate and enormous. Yet no one 
ventures to enter into a specification of the particular arti- 
cles of which it is composed, to show that it deserves thus 
to be characterized. The article of molasses has, indeed, 
been selected, and held up as an instance of the alleged ex- 
travagance. The existing tariff imposes a duty of five cents; 
the proposed tariff ten cents per gallon. We tax foreign 
spirits very high, and yet we let in, with a very low duty, 
foreign molasses, which ought to be considered as rum in 
disguise, filling the space of so much domestic spirits. If 



ON THE TARIFF. 203 

(which I do not believe will immediately be the case, to 
any considerable extent) the manufacture of spirits from 
molasses should somewhat decline under the new tariff, the 
manufacture of spirits from the raw material, produced at 
home, will be extended in the same ratio. Besides the in- 
cidental advantage of increasing our security against the 
effect of seasons of scarcity, by increasing the distillation 
of spirits from grain, there was scarcely any item in the ta- 
riff which combined so many interests in supporting the 
proposed rate of duty. The grain-growing country, the fruit 
country, and the culture of cane, would be all benefitted by 
the duty. Its operation is said, however, to be injurious 
to a certain quarter of the union. It was not to be denied, 
that each particular section of the country would feel some 
one or more articles of the tariff to bear hard upon it, dur- 
ing a short period; but the compensation was to be found in 
the more favorable operation of others. Now I am fully 
persuaded that, in the first instance, no part of the union 
would more largely than New England, share in the aggre- 
gate of the benefits resulting from the tariff. But the habits 
of economy of her people, their industry, their skill, their 
noble enterprize, the stimulating effects of their more rigor- 
ous climate, all tend to ensure to her the first and the rich- 
est fruits of the tai iff. The middle and the western states 
would come in afterwards for their portion, and all would 
participate in the advantage of internal exchanges and cir- 
culation. No quarter of the union could urge, with a worse 
grace than New England, objections to a measure, having 
for its object the advancement of the interests of the whole; 
for no quarter of the union participated more extensively 
in the benefits flowing from the general government. Her 
tonnage, her fisheries, her foreign trade, have been constant- 
ly objects of federal care. There was expended the great- 
est portion of the public revenue. The building of the pub- 
lic ships; their equipments; the expenses incident to their 
remaining in port, chiefly took place there. That great drain 
on the revenue, the revolutionary pension law, inclined prin- 
cipally towards New England. I do not however com- 
plain of these advantages which she enjoys. She is, proba- 
bly, fairly entitled to them. But gentlemen from that quar- 
ter may, at least, be justly reminded of them, when they 
complain of the onerous effect of one or two items of the 
tariff. 



204 ON THE TARIFF. 

Mr. Chairman, I frankly own that I feel great solicitude 
for the success of this bill. The entire independence of my 
country on all foreign states, as it respects a supply of our 
essential wants, has ever been with me a favorite object. 
The war of our revolution effected our political emancipa- 
tion. The last war contributed greatly towards accomplish- 
ing our commercial freedom. But our complete indepen- 
dence will only be consummated after the policy of this bill 
shall be recognized and adopted. We have indeed great 
difficulties to contend with; old habits — colonial usages — 
the obduracy of the colonial spirit — the enormous profits of 
a foreign trade, prosecuted under favorable circumstances, 
which no longer continue. I will not despair; the cause, I 
verily believe, is the cause of the country. It may be post- 
poned; it may be frustrated for the moment, but it must fi- 
nally prevail. Let us endeavour to acquire for the present 
congress, the merit of having laid this solid foundation of 
the national prosperity. If, as I think, fatally for the public 
interest, the bill shall be defeated, what will be the charac- 
ter of the account which we shall have to render to our con- 
stituents upon our return among them? We shall be asked, 
what have you done to remedy the disorders of the public 
currency? Why, Mr. secretary of the treasury made us a 
long report on that matter, containing much valuable infor- 
mation, and some very good reasoning, but, upon the whole, 
we found that subject rather above our comprehension, and 
we concluded that it it was wisest to let it regulate itself. 
"What have you done to supply the deficit in the treasury? 
We thought that, although you are all endeavoring to get 
out of the banks, it was a very good time for us to go intO- 
them, and we have authorized a loan. You have done some- 
thing, then, certainly, on the subject of retrenchment. Here, 
at home, we are practising the greatest economy, and our 
daughters, no longer able to wear calico gowns, are obliged 
to put on homespun. Why, we have saved, by the indefati- 
gable exertions of a member from Tennessee, (gen. Cocke) 
fifty thousand dollars, which were wanted for the Yellow 
Stone expedition. No, not quite so much; for thirty-thou- 
sand dollars of that sum were slill wanted, although we stopt 
the expedition at the Council Bluflfs. And we have saved 
another sum, which we hope will give you great satisfaction. 
After near two days debate, and a division between the two 
houses, we struck off two hundred dollars from the salarv 



ON THE TARIFF. 205 

of the clerk of the attorney general. What have you done 
to protect home industry from the effects of the contracted 
policy of foreign powers? We thought it best, after much 
deliberation, to leave things alone at home, and to continue 
our encouragement to foreign industry. Well, surely, you 
have passed some law to reanimate and revive the hopes of 
the numerous bankrupts that have been made by the extra- 
ordinary circumstances of the world, and the ruinous ten- 
dency of our policy? No; the senate could not agree on 
that subject, and the bankrupt bill failed! Can we plead, sir, 
ignorance of the general distress, and of the ardent wishes 
of the community for that protection of its industry, which 
this bill proposes? No, sir, almost daily, throughout the 
session, have we been receiving petitions, with which our 
tableis now loaded, humbly imploring us to extend this pro- 
tection. Unanimous resolutions from important state legis- 
latures have called upon us to give it, and the people of 
whole states in mass — almost in mass, of New York, New 
Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio — have transmitted to us 
their earnest, and humble petitions to encourage the home 
industry. Let us not turn a deaf ear to them. Let us not 
disappoint their just expectations. Let us manifest, by the 
passage of this bill, that congress does not deserve the re- 
proaches which have been cast on it, of insensibility to the 
v/ants and the sufferings of the people. 



206 



ON THE SPANISH TREATY. 

Speech on the Spanish Treaty^ delivered in the House of 
Representatives^ Monday^ 3d April^ 1820. 

The house having resolved itself into a comaiittee of the 
whole, on the state of the union; and the following resolu- 
tions, submitted some days ago by Mr. Clay (the speaker) 
being under consideration: 

1. Resolved, that the Constitution of the United States 
vests in congress the power to dispose of the territory be- 
longing to them, and that no treaty, purporting to alienate 
any portion thereof, is valid without the concurrence of 
congress. 

2. Resolved, that the equivalent proposed to be given 
by Spain to the United States in the treaty concluded be- 
tween them, on the twenty-second February, 1819, for that 
part of Louisiana lying west of the Sabine, was inadequate; 
and that it would be inexpedient to make a transfer thereof 
to any foreign power, or to renew the aforesaid treaty — 

Mr. Clay said, that, whilst he felt very grateful to the 
house for the prompt and respectful manner in which they 
had allowed him to enter upon the discussion of the reso- 
lutions which he had the honour of submitting to their no- 
tice, he must at the same time frankly say, that he thought 
their character and consideration, in the councils of this 
country, were concerned in not letting the present session 
pass off without deliberating upon our affairs with Spain. In 
coming to the present session of congress, it had been his 
anxious wish to be able to concur with the executive branch 
of the government in the measures which it might conceive 
itself called upon to recommend on that subject, for two 
reasons, of which, the first, relating personally to himself, 
he would not trouble the committee with further noticing. 
The other was, that it appeared to him to be always desir- 
able, in respect to the foreign action of this government, 
that there should be a perfect coincidence in opinion between 
its several co-ordinate branches. In time, however, of peace 
it might be allowable to those who are charged with the 



ON THE SPANISH TREATY, 207 

public interests to entertain and express their respective 
views, although there might be some discordance between 
them. In a season of war there should be no division in the 
public councils; but an united and vigorous exertion to bring 
the war to an honourable conclusion. For his part, when- 
ever that calamity may befal his country, he would entertain 
but one wish, and that is, that success might crown our 
struggle, and the war be honorably and gloriously termi- 
nated. He would never refuse to share in the joys incident 
to the victory of our arms, nor to participate in the griefs 
of defeat and discomfiture. He conceded entirely in the 
sentiment once expressed by that illustrious hero, whose 
recent melancholy fall we all so sincerely deplore, that for- 
tune may attend our country in whatever war it may be in- 
volved. 

There are two systems of policy, he said, of which our 
government had had the choice. The first was, by appealing 
to the justice and affections of Spain, to employ all those 
persuasives which could arise out of our abstinence from 
any direct countenance to the cause of South America and 
the observance of a strict neutrality. The other was, by 
appealing to her justice also and to her fears, to prevail 
upon her to redress the injuries of which we complain, — 
her fears by a recognition of the independent governments 
of South America, and leaving her in a state of uncertainty 
as to the further step we might take in respect to those 
governments. The unratified treaty was the result of the 
first system. It could not l)e positively affirmed what effect 
the other system would have produced; but he verily be- 
lieved that, whilst it rendered justice to those governments, 
and would have better comported with that magnanimous 
policy which ought to have characterized our own, it would 
have more successfully tended to an amicable and satisfac- 
tory arrangement of our differences with Spain. 

The first system has so far failed. At the commencement 
of the session, the president recommended an enforcement 
of the provisions of the treaty. After three months delibe- 
ration, the committee of foreign affairs, not being able to 
concur with him, he has made us a report recommending 
the seizure of Florida in the nature of a reprisal. Now the 
president recommends our postponement of the subject until 
the next session. It had been his (Mr. Clay's) intention, 
whenever the committee of foreign affairs should engage 



208 ON THE SPANISH TREATY. 

the house to act upon their bill, to offer, as a substitute for 
it, the system which he thought it became this country to 
adopt, of which the occupation of Texas, as our own, would 
have been a part, and the recognition of the independent 
governments of South America another. If he did not now 
bring forward this system, it was because the committee 
proposed to withdraw their bill, and because he knew too 
much of the temper of the house and of the executive, to 
think that it was advisable to bring it forward. He hoped 
that some suitable opportunity might occur during the ses- 
sion, for considering the propriety of recognizing the inde- 
pendent governments of South America. 

Whatever Mr. C. might think of the discretion which 
was evinced in recommending the postponement of the bill 
of the committee of foreign relations, he could not think 
that the reasons, assigned by the president for that recom- 
mendation, were entitled to the weight which he had given 
them, Mr. C. thought the house was called upon, by a high 
sense of duty, seriously to animadvert upon some of those 
reasons. He believed it was the first example, in the annals 
of the country, in which a course of policy, respecting one 
foreign power, which we must suppose had been deliberately 
considered, has been recommended to be abandoned, in a 
domestic communication from one to another co-ordinate 
branch of the government, upon the avowed ground of the 
interposition of foreign powers. And what is the nature of 
this interposition? It is evidenced by a cargo of scraps ga- 
thered up from this charge d'affaires, and that — of loose con- 
versations held with this foreign minister, and that — perhaps 
mere levee conversations, without a commitment in writing, 
in a solitary instance, of any of the foreign parties concerned, 
except only in the case of his imperial majesty; and what 
was the character of his commitment we shall presently see. 
But, Mr. C. said, he must enter his solemn protest against 
this and every other species of foreign interference in our 
matters with Spain. What have they to do with them? Would 
ihey not repel as officious and insulting intrusion, any in- 
terference on our part in their concerns with foreign states? 
Would his imperial majesty have listened, with complacency, 
to our remonstrances against the vast acquisitions which he 
has recently made? He has lately trammed his enormous 
maw with Finland, and with the spoils of Poland, and, 
whilst the difficult process of digestion is going on, he throws 



ON THE SPANISH TREATY. 209 

himself upon a couch, and cries out — don't, don't disturb my 
repose. 

He charges his minister here to plead the cause of peace 
and concord! The American " government is too enlight- 
ened" (ah! sir, how sweet this unction is, which is poured 
down our backs,) to take hasty steps. And his imperial 
majesty's minister here is required to engage (Mr. C. said 
he hoped the original expression was less strong, but he 
believed the French word engager bore the same meaning,) 
the American government, &c." "" Nevertheless the empei'or 
does not interpose in this discussion." No! not he. He, 
makes above all "no pretension to exercise influence in the 
councils of a foreign power." Not the slightest. And yet, 
at the very instant when he is protesting against the impu- 
tation of this influence, his interposition is proving efi'ectual! 
His imperial majesty has at least manifested so far, in this 
particular, his capacity to govern his empire, by the selection 
of a sagacious minister. For if count Nesselrode had never 
written another paragraph, the extract from his despatch 
to Mr. Poletica, which has been transmitted to this house, 
will demonstrate that he merited the confidence of his mas- 
ter. It is quite refreshing to read such state papers, after 
perusing those (he was sorry to say it, he wished there was 
a veil broad and thick enough to conceal them forever,) 
which this treaty had produced on the part of our govern- 
ment. 

Conversations between my lord Castlereagh and our min- 
ister at London had also been communicated to this house. 
Nothing from the hand of his lordship is produced; no! he 
does not commit himself in that way. The sense in which 
our minister understood him, and the purport of certain 
parts of despatches from the British government to its min- 
ister at Madrid, which he deigned to read to our minister, 
are alone communicated to us. Now we know very well 
how diplomatists, when it is their pleasure to do so, can 
wrap themselves up in mystery. No man more than my 
lord Castlereagh, who is also an able minister, possessing 
much greater talents than are allowed to him generally in 
this country, can successfully express himself in ambiguous 
language, when he chooses to employ it. Mr. C. recollected 
himself once to have witnessed this facility, on the part of 
his lordship. The case was this. When Bonaparte made 
his escape from Elba and invaded France, a great part of 
Ee 



310 ON THE SPANISH TREATY. 

Europe believed it was with the connivance of the British 
ministry. The opposition charged them, in parliament with 
it, and they were interrogated to know what measures of 
precaution they had taken against such an event. Lord Cas- 
tlereagh replied by stating, that there was an understanding' 
with a certain naval officer of high rank, commanding in 
the adjacent seas, that he was to act on certain contingencies. 
Now, Mr. Chairman, if you can make any thing intelligible 
out of this reply you will have much more success than 
the English opposition had. 

The allowance of interference by foreign powers in the 
affairs of our government, not pertaining to themselves, is 
against the counsels of all our wisest politicians, — those of 
"Washington, Jefferson, and he would also add those of the 
present chief magistrate; for, pending this very Spanish 
negociation, the offer of the mediation of foreign states was 
declined, upon the true ground that Europe had her system, 
and we ours; and that it was not compatible with our policy 
to entangle ourselves in the labyrinths of hers. But a me- 
diation is far preferable to the species of interference on 
which it had been his reluctant duty to comment. The me- 
diator is a judge, placed on high, his conscience his guide, 
the world his spectators, and posterity his j\idge. His posi- 
tion is one, therefore, of the greatest responsibility. But 
what responsibility is attached to this sort of irregular, 
drawing room, intriguing interposition? He could see no 
motive for governing or influencing our policy, in regard 
to Spain, furnished m any of the communications which 
respected the disposition of foreign powers. He regretted 
for his part, that they had at all been consulted. There was 
nothing in the character of the power of Spain; nothing in 
the beneficial nature of the stipulations of the treaty to us, 
which warranted us in seeking the aid of foreign powers, 
if in any case whatever that aid were desirable. He was 
far from saying that, in the foreign action of this government, 
it might not be prudent to keep a watchful eye upon the 
probable conduct of foreign powers. That might be a ma- 
terial circumstance to be taken into consideration. But he 
never would avow to our own people, — never promulgate 
to foreign powers, that their wishes and interference were 
the controlling cause of our policy. Such promulgation would 
lead to the most alarming consequences. It was to invite 
further interposition. It might, in process of time, create 



ON THE SPANISH TREATY. 211 

in the bosom of our country a Russian faction, a British 
faction, a French faction. Every nation ought to be jealous 
of this species of interference, whatever was its form of 
government. But of all forms of government the united 
testimony of all history admonished a republic to be most 
guarded against it. From the moment Philip intermeddlea ' 
with the affairs of Greece, the liberty of Greece was doomed 
to inevitable destruction. 

Suppose, said Mr. C. we could see the communications 
which have passed between his imperial majesty and the 
British government, respectively, and Spain, in regard to 
the United States; what do you imagine would be their 
character? Do you suppose the same language has been 
held to Spain and to us? Do you not, on the contrary, be- 
lieve, that sentiments have been expressed to her, consoling 
to her pride? That we have been represented, perhaps, as 
an ambitious republic, seeking to aggrandize ourselves at 
her expense? 

In the other ground taken by the president, the present 
distressed condition of Spain, for his recommendation of 
forbearance to act during the present session, Mr. C. was 
also sorry to say that it did not appear to him to be solid. 
He could well conceive how the weakness of your aggressor 
might, when he was withholding from you justice, form a 
motive for your pressing your equitable demands upon him; 
but he could not accord in the wisdom of that policy which 
would wait his recovery of strength, so as to enable him 
successfully to resist those demands. Nor would it comport 
with the practice of our government heretofore. Did we 
not, in 1811, when the present monarch of Spain was an 
ignoble captive, and the people of the Peninsula were con- 
tending for the inestimable privelege of self-government, 
seize and occupy that part of Louisiana which is situated 
between the Mississippi and the Perdido? What must the 
people of Spain think of that policy which would not spare 
them, and which commiserates alone an unworthy prince, 
who ignominiously surrendered himself to his enemy; a vile 
despot, of whom I cannot speak in appropriate language 
without departing from the respect due to this house or to 
myself? What must the people of South America think of 
this sympathy for Ferdinand, at a moment when they, as 
well as the people of the Peninsula themselves, (if we are 
to believe the late accounts, and God send that they may be 
true,) are struggling for liberty? 



212 ON THE SPANISH TREATY 

Again: when we declared our late just war against Great 
Britain, did we wait for a moment when she was free from 
embarrassment or distress; or did we not rather wisely select 
a period when there was the greatest probability of giving 
success to our arms? What was the complaint in England; 
what the language of faction here? Was it not that we had 
cruelly proclaimed the war at a time when she was strug- 
gling for the liberties of the world? How truly, let the sequel 
and the voice of impartial history tell. 

Whilst he could not, therefore, Mr. C. said, persuade 
himself, that the reasons assigned by the president for post- 
poning the subject of our Spanish affairs until another ses- 
sion, were entided to all the weight which he seemed to 
think belonged to them, he did not nevertheless regret that 
the particular project recommended by the committee of 
foreign relations was thus to be disposed of; for it was war 
— war, attempted to be disguised. And if we went to war, 
he thought it should have no other limit than indemnity 
for the past, and security for the future. He had no idea of 
the wisdom of that measure of hostility which would bind 
us, whilst the other party is left free. 

Before he proceeded to consider the particular proposi- 
tions which the resolutions contained which he had had the 
honour of submitting, it was material to determine the actual 
posture of our relations to Spain. He considered it too clear 
to need discussion, that the treaty was at an end; that it 
contained in its present state, no obligation whatever upon 
us, and no obligation whatever on the part of Spain. It was 
as if it had never been. We are remitted back to the state 
of our rights and our demands which existed prior to the 
conclusion of the treaty, with this only difference, that, in- 
Sftead of being merged in, or weakened by the treaty, they 
had acquired all the additional force which the intervening 
time and the faithlessness of Spain can communicate to them. 
Standing on this position, he should not deem it necessary 
to interfere with the treaty-making power, if a fixed and 
persevering purpose had not been indicated by it, to obtain 
the revival of the treaty. Now he thought it a bad treaty. 
The interest of the country, as it appeared to him, forbade 
its renewal. Being gone, it was perfectly incomprehensible 
to him why so much solicitude was mainfested to restore 
it. Yet it is clung to with the same sort of frantic affection 
with which the bereaved mother hugs her dead infant in 
the vain hope of bringing it back to life. 



ON THE SPANISH TREATY. 213 

Has the house of representatives a right to express its 
opinion upon the arrangement made in that treaty? The 
president, by asking congress to carry it into effect, has given 
us jurisdiction of the subject, if we had it not before. We 
derive from that circumstance the right to consider, 1st, if 
there be a treaty; 2dly, if we ought to carry it into eifect; 
and, 3dly, if there be no treaty, whether it be expedient to 
assert our rights, independent of the treaty. It will not be 
contended that we are restricted to that specific mode of 
redress which the president intimated in his opening mes- 
sage. 

The first resolution which he had presented, asserted that 
the constitution vests in the congress of the United States 
the power to dispose of the territory belonging to them; and 
that no treaty, purporting to alienate any portion thereof, 
is valid, without the concurrence of congress.* It was far 
from his wish to renew at large a discussion of the treaty- 
making power. The constitution of the United States had 
not defined the precise limits of that power, because, from 
the nature of it, they could not be prescribed. It appeared 
to him, however, that no safe American statesman would 
assign to it a boundless scope. He presumed, for example, 
that it would not be contended that in a goveinment which 
was itself limited, there was a functionary without limit. 
The first great bound to the power in question, he appre- 
hended, was, that no treaty could constitutionally transcend 
the very objects and purposes of the government itself. He 
thought, also, that wherever there were specific grants of 
powers to congress, they limited and controlled, or, he would 
rather say, modified the exercise of the general grant of the 
treaty-making power, upon the principle which was familiar 
to every one. He did not insist that the treaty-making 
power could not act upon the subjects committed to the 
charge of congress; he merely contended that the concur- 
rence of congress in its action upon those subjects was / 
necessary. Nor would he insist that the concurrence should 
precede that action. It would be always most desirable that 
it should precede it, if convenient, to guard against the com- 
mitment of congress, on the one hand, by the executive, or 

* The proposition which it asserts was, he thought, sufficiently main- 
tained by barely reading the clause in the constitution on which it rests; 
" The congress shall have power to dispose, &c. the territory or other 
property belonging to the United States." 



) 



214 ON THE SPANISH TREATY. 

on the other, what might seem to be a violation of the faith 
of the country, pledged for the ratification of the treaty. 
But he was perfectly aware, that it would be very often 
highly inconvenient to deliberate, in a body so numerous 
as congress, on the nature of those terms on which it might 
be proper to treat with foreign powers. In the view of the 
subject which he had been taking, there was a much higher 
degree of security to the interests of this country. For, 
with all respect to the president and senate, it could not 
disparage the wisdom of their councils, to add to that of 
this house also. But, if the concurrence of this house be 
not necessary in the cases asserted; if there be no restriction 
upon the power he was considering, it might draw to itself 
and absorb the whole of the powers of government. To 
contract alliances; to stipulate for raising troops to be em- 
ployed in a common war about to be waged; to grant sub- 
sidies, even to introduce foreign troops within the bosom 
of the country, were not unfrequent instances of the exercise 
of this power; and if in all such cases the honour and faith 
of the nation were committed, by the exclusive act of the 
president and senate, the melancholy duty alone might be 
left to congress of recording the ruin of the republic* 

Supposing, however, that no treaty which undertakes to 
dispose of the territory of the United States is valid, without 
the concurrence of congress, it may be contended that such 
treaty may constitutionally fix the limits of the territory of 
the United States, where they are disputed, without the 
co-operation of congress. He admitted it, when the fixation 
of the limits simply was the object. As in the case of the 
river St. Croix, or the more recent stipulation in the treaty 
of Ghent, or in that of the treaty of Spain in l79j. In all 
these cases, the treaty-making power merely reduces to 
certainty that which was before unascertained. It announces 

* The bouse of representatives has uniformly maintained its right to 

deliberate upon those treaties, in which their co-operation was asked by 

f the executive. In the first case that occurred in the operation of our 

t government, that of the treaty, commonlj called Mr. Jay's treaty, after 

; general Washington refused to communicate his instructions to that 

' minister, the house asserted its rights, by fifty odd votes to thirty odd. 

In the last case that occurred, the convention in 1815 with Great Britain, 

although it passed off upon what was called a compromise, this house 

substantially obtained its object; (or, if that convention operated as a 

repeal of the laws with which it was incompatible, th^e act which passed 

was altogether unnecessary. 



ON THE SPANISH TREATY. 215 

the fact; it proclaims in a tangible form, the existence of the 
boundary. It does not make a new boundary; it asserts only 
where the old boundary was. But it cannot, under colour 
of fixing a boundary previously existing, though not in fact 
marked, undertake to cede away, without the concurrence 
of congress, whole provinces. If the subject be one of a 
mixed character, if it consists partly of cession, and partly 
ef the fixation of a prior limit, he contended that the presi- 
dent must come here for the consent of congress. But in 
the Florida treaty it was not pretended that the object was 
simply a declaration of where the western limit of Louisiana 
was. It was, on the contrary, the case of an avowed cession ^ 
of territory from the United States to Spain. The whole 
of the correspondence manifested that the respective parties 
to the negociation were not engaged so much in an inquiry 
where the limit of Louisiana was, as that they were ex- 
changing overtures as to where it should be. Hence, we find 
various limits proposed and discussed. At one time the 
Mississippi is proposed; then the Missouri; then a river 
discharging itself into the gulf east of the Sabine. A vast 
desert is proposed to separate the territories of the two 
powers; and finally the Sabine, which neither of the parties 
had ever contended was the ancient limit of Louisiana, is 
adopted, and the boundary is extended from its source by 
a line perfectly new and arbitrary; and the treaty itself pro- 
claims its purpose to be a cession from the United States to 
Spain. 

The second resolution comprehended three propositions; \^ 
the first of which was, that the equivalent granted by Spain 1 
to the United States for the province of Texas was inade- 
quate. To determinate this it was necessary to estimate the / 
value of what we gave and of what we received. This ( 
involved an inquiry into our claim to Texas. It was not his 
purpose to enter at large into this subject. He presumed 
the spectacle would not be presented of questioning, in this 
branch of the government, our title to Texas, which had 
been constantly maintained, by the executive for more than 
fifteen years past, under three several administrations. He 
was at the same time ready and prepared to make out our 
title, if any one in the house were fearless enough to con- 
trovert it. He would, for the present, briefly state, that the 
man who is most familiar with the transactions of this 
government, who largely participated in the formation of 



216 ON THE SPANISH TREATY. 

our constitution, and all that has been done under it, who, 
besides the eminent services that he has rendered his country, 
principally contributed to the acquisition of Louisiana, who 
must be supposed, from his various opportunities, best to 
know its limits, declared, fifteen years ago, that our title to 
the Rio del Norte was as well founded as it was to the 
island of New Orleans. [Here Mr. C. read an extract from 
a memoir presented in 1805, by Mr. Monroe and Mr. 
Pinckney, to Mr. Cevallos, proving that the boundary of 
Louisiana extended eastward to the Perdido, and westward 
to the Rio del Norte, in which thev say, — " The facts and 

aHprinciple'i which justify this conclusion, are so satisfactory 
to their government as to convince it that the United States 
have not a better right to the island of New Orleans, under 
the cession referred to, than they have to the whole district 
of territory thus described."] The title to the Perdido on 
the one side, and to the Rio del Norte on the other, rested 
; on the same principle, — the priority of discovery and of 

f occupation by France. Spain had first discovered and made 

an establishment at Pensacola; France at Dauphine island 
in the bay of Mobile. The intermediate space was unoccu- 
pied; and the principle observed among European nations 
having contiguous settlements, being that the unoccupied 
space between them should be equally divided, was applied 
to it, and the Perdido thus became the common boundary. 
So, west of the Mississippi, La Salle, acting under France, 

' in 1682 or 3, first discovered that river. In 1685, he made 
an establishment on the bay of St. Bernard, west of the 

' Colorado, emptving into it. The nearest Spanish settlement 

' was Panuco, and the Rio del Norte, about the midway line, 

^Jjecame the common boundary. 

All the accounts concurred in representing Texas to be 
extremely valuable. Its superficial extent was three or four 
times greater than that of Florida, The climate was delicious; 
the soil fertile; the margins of the rivers abounding in live 
oak; and the country admitting of easy settlement. It pos- 
sessed, moreover, if he were not misinformed, one of the 
finest ports in the gulf of Mexico. The productions of which 
it was capable, were suited to our wants. The unfortunate 
captive of St. Helena wished for ships, commerce, and 
colonies. We have them all, if we do not wantonly throw 
them away. The colonies of other countries are separated 
from them by vast seas, requiring great expense to protect 



ON THE SPANISH TREATY. 217 

\ 

them, and are held subject to a constant risk of their being \ 
torn from their grasp. Our colonies, on the contrary, are 
united to and form a part of our continent; and the same 
Mississippi, from whose rich deposit, the best of them j 
(Louisiana,) has been formed, will transport on her bosom 
the brave, the patriotic men from her tributary streams, to ' 
defend and preserve the next most valuable, the province 
of Texas. -^^/^ 

We wanted Florida, or rather we shall want it; or, to 
speak more correctly, we want no body else to have it. We 
do not desire it for immediate use. It fills a space in our 
imagination, and we wish it to complete the arrondizement 
of our territory. It must certainly come to us. The ripened 
fruit will not more surely fall. Florida is inclosed in between 
Alabama and Georgia, and cannot escape. Texas may. 
Whether we get Florida now, or some five or ten years 
hence, it is of no consequence, provided no other power 
gets it; and if any other power should attempt to take it, an 
existing act of congress authorises the president to prevent 
it. He was not disposed to disparage Florida, but its intrinsic / / 
value was incomparably less than that of Texas. Almost ' 
its sole value was military. The possession of it would 
undoubtedly communicate some additional security to 
Louisiana, and to the American commerce in the gulf of 
Mexico. But it was not very essential to have it for pro- 
tection to Georgia and Alabama. There could be no attack 
upon either of them, by a foreign power, on the side of 
Florida. It now covered those states. Annexed to the 
United States, and we should have to extend our line of 
defence so as to embrace Florida. Far from being, therefore, 
a source of immediate profit, it would be the occasion of 
considerable immediate expense. The acquisition of it was 
certainly a fair object of our policy; and ought never to be 
lost sight of. It is even a laudable ambition in any chief 
magistrate to endeavour to illustrate the epoch of his ad- 
ministration, by such an acquisition. It was less necessary, 
however, to fill the measure of honors of the present chief 
magistrate, than that of any other man, in consequence of 
the large share which he had in obtaining all Louisiana. 
But, whoever may deserve the renown which may attend 
the incorporation of Florida into our confederacy, it is our 
business, as the representatives of that people, who are to 
pay the price of it, to take care, as far as we constitutionally 
Ff 



218 ON THE SPANISH TREATY. 

can, that too much is not given. He would not give Texas 
for Florida in a naked exchange. We were bound by the 
treaty to give not merely Texas, but five millions of dollars, 
also, and the excess beyond that sum of all our claims upon 
Spain, which have been variously estimated at from fifteen 
to twenty millions of dollars! 

The public is not generally apprized of another large 
consideration which passed from us to Spain; if an inter- 
pretation which he had heard given to the treaty were just; 
and it certainly was plausible. Subsequent to the transfer, but 
before the delivery of Louisiana from Spain to France, the 
then governorof New Orleans (hebelieved hisname was Gay- 
oso,) made a number of concessions upon the payment of an in- 
considerable pecuniary consideration, amounting to between 
nine hundred thousand, and a million acres of land, similar 
to those recently made at Madrid to the royal favorites. 
This land is situated in Feliciana, and between the Missis- 
sippi and the Amit6, in the present state of Louisiana. It 
was granted to persons who possessed the very best infor- 
mation of the country, and is no doubt, therefore, the choice 
land. The United States have never recognized, but have 
constantly denied the validity of these concessions. It is 
contended by the parties concerned, that they are confirmed 
by the late treaty. By the second article, his catholic ma- 
jesty cedes to the United States, in full property and sove- 
reignty, all the territories which belong to him, situated to 
the eastward of the Mississippi, known by the name of 
East and West Florida. And by the eighth article, all grants 
of land made before the twenty-fourth January, 1818, by 
his catholic majesty, or by his laxvful authorities^ shall be 
ratified and confirmed, &c. Now, the grants in question 
having been made long prior to that day, are supposed to 
be confirmed. He understood from a person interested, that 
Don Onis had assured him it was his intention to confirm 
them. Whether the American negociator had the same 
intention or not, he (Mr. C) did not know. It will not be 
pretended, that the letter of Mr. Adams, of the twelfth 
March, 1818, in which he declines to treat any further with 
respect to any part of the territory included within the 
limits of the state of Louisiana, can control the operation 
of the subsequent treaty. That treaty must be interpreted 
by what is in it, and not by what is out of it. The overtures 
which passed between the parties respectively, prior to the 



OJV THE SPANISH TREATS. 219 

conclusion of the treaty, can neither restrict nor enlarge its 
meaning. Moreover, when Mr. Madison occupied in 1811 
the country between the Mississippi and the Perdido, he 
declared, that, in our hands it should be, as it has been, 
subject to negociation. 

It results, then, that we have given for Florida, charged 
and encumbered as it is: — 

1st, Unincumbered Texas. 

2d, Five millions of dollars. 

3d, A surrender of all our claims upon Spain, not in- 
cluded in that live millions; and, 

4th, If the interpretation of the treaty which he had stated 
were well founded, about a million of acres of the best un- 
seated land in the state of Louisiana, worth perhaps ten 
millions of dollars. 

The first proposition contained in the second resolution 
was thus, Mr. C. thought, fully sustained. The next was, 
that it was inexpedient to cede Texas to any foreign power. 
They constituted, in his opinion, a sacred inheritance of 
posterity, which we ought to preserve unimpaired. He 
wished it was, if it were not, a fundamental and inviolable 
law of the land, that they should be inalienable to any foreign 
power. It was quite evident that it was in the order of 
Providence; that it was an inevitable result of the principle 
of population, that the whole of this continent, including 
Texas, was to be peopled in process of time. The question 
was, by whose race shall it be peopled? In our hands it will 
be peopled by freemen, and the sons of freemen, carrying 
with them our language, our laws, and our liberties; esta- 
blishing on the prairies of Texas, temples dedicated to the 
simple, and devout modes of worship of God incident to 
our religion, and temples dedicated to that freedom which 
we adore next to Him. In the hands of others, it may be- 
come the habitation of despotism and of slaves, subject to 
the vile dominion of the Inquisition and of superstition. 
He knew that there were honest and enlightened men who 
feared that our confederacy was already too large, and that 
there was danger of disruption, arising out of the want of 
reciprocal coherence between its several parts. He hoped 
and believed that the principle of representation, and the 
formation of states, would preserve us an united people. 
But it Texas, after being peopled by us, and grappling with 
us, should, at some distant day, break off, she will carry 



220 ON THE SPANISH tREATY. 

along with her a noble crew, consisting of our children's 
children. The difference between those who might be dis- 
inclined to its annexation to our confederacy, and him, was, 
that their system began where his might, possibly, in some 
distant future day, terminate; and their's began with a 
foreign race, aliens to every thing that we hold dear, and 
his ended with a race partaking of all our qualities. 

The last proposition which the second resolution affirms, 
is, that it is inexpedient to renew the treaty. If Spain had 
promptly ratified it, bad as it is, he would have acquiesced 
in it. After the protracted negociation which it terminated; 
after the irritating and exasperating correspondence which 
preceded it, he would have taken the treaty as a man who 
has passed a long and restless night, turning and tossing 
in his bed, snatches at day an hour's disturbed repose. But 
she would not ratify it; she would not consent to be bound 
by it; and she has liberated us from it. Is it wise to renew 
the negociation, if it is to be recommenced, by announcing 
to her at once our ultimatum? Shall we not give her the 
vantage ground? In early life he had sometimes indulged 
in a species of amusement, which years and experience had 
determined him to renounce, which, if the committee would 
allow him to use it, furnished him with a figure, — shall we 
enter on the game, with our hand exposed to the adversary, 
whilst he shuffles the cards to acquire more strength? What 
has lost us his ratification of the treaty? Incontestibly our 
importunity to procure the ratification, and the hopes which 
that importunity inspired, that he could yet obtain more 
from us. Let us undeceive him. Let us proclaim the 
acknowledged truth, that the treaty is prejudicial to the 
interests of this country. Are we not told, by the secretary 
of state, in the bold and confident assertion, that Don Onis 
was authorized to grant us jnuch more, and that Spain dare 
not deny his instructions? The line of demarcation is far 
within his limits? If she would have then granted us more, 
is her position now more favorable to her in the negociation? 
In our relations to foreign powers, it may be sometimes 
politic to sacrifice a portion of our rights to secure the 
residue. But is Spain such a power, as that it becomes us 
to sacrifice those rights? Is she entitled to it by her justice, 
by her observance of good faith, or by her possible annoy- 
ance of us in the event of war? She will seek, as she has 
sought, procrastination in the negociation, taking the treaty 



ON THE SPANISH TREATY. 221 

as the basis. She will dare to offend us, as she has insulted 
us, by asking the disgraceful stipulation that we shall not 
recognize the patriots. — Let us put aside the treaty; tell 
her to grant us our rights, to their utterniost extent. And 
if she still palters^ let us assert those rights by whatever 
measures it is for the interest of our country to adopt. 

If the treaty were abandoned; if we were not on the 
contrary signified, too distinctly, that there was to be a 
continued and unremitting endeavor to obtain its revival, 
he would not think it advisable for this house to interpose. 
But, with all the information in our possession, and holding 
the opinions which he entertained, he thought it the bouuden 
duty of the house to adopt the resolutions. He had acquitted 
himself of what he deemed a solemn duty, in bringing up 
the subject. Others would discharge their's according to 
their own sense of them- 



222 



MISSION TO SOUTH AMERICA. 

r ''Oj 
House of Representatives, May i 1^20, 

The house being in committee of the whole, on the state 
of the Union, and a motion being made to that effect, the 
committee resolved to proceed to the consideration of the 
following resolutions: 

Resolved — ihat it is expedient to provide by law a suit- 
able outfit and salary for such minister or ministers as the 
president, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, 
may send to any of the governments of South America, 
which have established and are maintaining, their indepen- 
dence on Spain. 

Resolved-— T\i2i\. provision ought to be made for request- 
ing the president of the United States to cause to be pre- 
sented to the general, the most worthy and distinguished, in 
his opinion, in the service of any of the independent govern- 
ments of South America, the sword which was given by 
the viceroy of Lima to captain Biddle of the Ontario, dur- 
ing her late cruise in the Pacific, and which is now in the 
office of the department of state, with the expression of the 
wish of the congress of the United States, that it may be em- 
ployed in the support and preservation of the liberties and 
independence of his country. 

When Mr. Clay arose and said: It is my intention, Mr. 
Chairman, to withdraw the latter resolution. Since I offered 
it to this house, by the passage of the bill to prevent, under 
suitable penalties, in future, the acceptance of presents, for- 
bidden by the constitution, to prohibit the carrying of for- 
eigners in the public vessels, and to limit to the case of our 
own citizens, and to regulate, in that case, the transportation 
of money in them, has, perhaps, sufficiently animadverted 
on the violation of the constitution, which produced that 
resolution. I confess that when 1 heard of captain Biddle 
receiving from the deputy of a king the sword in question, 
I felt greatly mortified. I could not help contrasting his 
conduct with that of the surgeon on board an American 



MISSION TO SOUTH AMERICA. 223 

man-of-war, in the bay of Naples, (I regret that I do not 
recollect his name, as I should like to record with the tes- 
timony which I with pleasure bear to his high minded con- 
duct) who, having performed an operation on one of the suite 
of the emperor of Austria, and being offered fifteen hundred 
pistoles or dollars for his skillful service, returned the purse, 
and said that what he had done was in the cause of human- 
ity, and that the constitution of his country forbade his ac- 
ceptance of the proffered boon. There was not an Ameri- 
can heart that did not swell with pride on hearing of his 
noble disinterestedness. It did appear to me, also, that 
the time of captain Biddle's interposition was unfortunate 
to produce an agreement between the viceroy of Lima and 
Chili, to exchange their respective prisoners, however de- 
sirable the accomplishment of such a humane object might 
be. The viceroy had constantly refused to consent to any 
such exchange. And it is an incontestible fact, that the bar- 
barities which have characterized the civil war in Spanish 
America have uniformly originated with the royalists. 
After the memorable battle of Maipu, decisive of the in- 
dependence of Chili, and fatal to the arms of the viceroy, 
this interposition, if 1 am not mistaken, took place. The 
transportation of money, upon freight, from the port of Cal- 
lao to that of Rio Janeiro, for royalists, appeared to me 
also highly improper. Ifwewishto preserve, unsullied, 
the illustrious character, which our navy justly sustains, we 
should repress the very first instances of irregularity. But 
I am willing to believe that captain Biddle's conduct has 
been inadvertent. He is a gallant officer, and belongs to a 
respectable and patriotic family. His errors, I am persuad- 
ed, will not be repeated by him or imitated by others. And 
I trust that there is no man more unwilling than 1 am unne- 
cessarily to press reprehension. It is thought, moreover, 
by some, that the president might feel an embarrassment 
in executing the duty required of him by the resolution, 
which it was far from my purpose to cause him. I withdraw it. 

There is no connexion intended, or, in fact, between that 
resolution and the one I now propose briefly to discuss. 
The proposition to recognize the independent governments 
of South America offers a subject of as great importance 
as any which could claim the deliberate consideration of this 
house. 

Mr. Clay then went on to say, that it appeared to him the 



224 MISSION TO SOUTH AMERICA- 

object of this government, heretofore, had been, so to man- 
age its affairs, in regard to South America, as to produce 
an effect on its existing negociations with the parent country. 
The house were now apprized, by the message from the 
president, that this policy had totally failed; it had failed, be- 
cause our country would not dishonour itself by surren- 
dering one of the most important rights incidental to sove- 
reignty. Although we had observed a course toward the 
patriots, as Mr. Gallatin said in his comn>unication read 
yesterday, greatly exceeding in rigour the course pursued 
towards them either by France or England; although, also, 
as was remarked by the secretary of state, we had observed 
a neutrality so strict that blood had been spilt in enforcing 
it — still, Spanish honor was not satisfied, and fresh sacrifi- 
ces were demanded of us. If they were resisted in form, 
they were subststaniially yielded by our course as to South 
America. We will not stipulate with Spain not to recog- 
nize the independence of the south; but we nevertheless 
grant her all she demands. 

Mr. Clay said, it had been his intention to have gone into 
a general view of the course of policy which has character- 
ized the general government; but on account of the lateness 
of the session, and the desire for an early adjournment, he 
should wave for that purpose, and in the observations he 
had to make, confine himself pretty much to events subse- 
quent to the period at which he had submitted to the house 
a proposition having nearly the same object as this. 

After the return of our commissioners from South Ameri- 
rica; after they had all agreed in attesting the fact of inde- 
pendent sovereignty being exercised by the government of 
Buenos Ayres, the whole nation looked forward to the re» 
cognition of the independence of that country as the policy 
which the government ought to pursue. He appealed to 
every member to say, whether there was not a general opi- 
nion, in case the report of that mission should turn out as 
it did, that the recognition of the independence of that gov- 
ernment would follow as a matter of course. The surprise 
at a different course being pursued by the executive at the 
last session was proportionably great. On this subject, so 
strong was the message of the president at the commence- 
ment of the present session, that some of the presses took it 
for granted, that the recognition would follow of course, 
and a paper in this neighbourhood has said that there was. 



MISSION TO SOUTH AMERICA. 225 

in regard to that question, a race of popularity between the 
president of the United States and the humble individual 
who now addressed the house. Yet, faithless Ferdinand 
refuses to ratify his own treaty, on the pretext of violations 
of our neutrality; but, in fact, because we will not basely 
surrender an important attribute of sovereignty. Two years 
ago, Mr. Clay said, would in his opinion, have been the 
proper time for recognizing the independence of the South. 
Then the struggle was somewhat doubtful, and a kind office 
on the part of this government would have had a salutary 
effect. Since that period, what had occurred? Any thing 
to prevent a recognition of their independence, or to make 
it less expedient? No; every occurrence tended to prove 
the capacity of that country to maintain its independence. 
Mr. Clay then successively adverted to the battles of Mai- 
pu, and Bojaca, their great brilliancy, and their important 
consequences. Adverting to the union of Venezuela and 
New Grenada in one republic, he said one of their first acts 
was to appoint one of their most distinguished citizens, the 
vice president Zea, a minister to this country. There was a 
time, he said, when impressions are made on individuals and 
nations, by kindness towards them, which lasts forever — 
■when they are surrounded with enemies, and embarrass- 
ments present themselves. Ages and ages may pass away, said 
Mr. Clay, before we forget the help we received in our day 
of peril from the hands of France. Her injustice, the 
tyranny of her despot, may alienate us for a time; but the mo- 
ment it ceases, we relapse into a good feeling towards her. 
Do you mean to wait, said Mr. Clay, until these republics 
are recognized by the whole world, and then step in and ex- 
tend your hand to them when it can no longer be withheld? 
If we are to believe general Vives, wehave gone about among 
foreign powers and consulted with lord Castlereagh and count 
Nesselrode, to seek some aid in recognizing the indepen- 
dence of these powers. What! after the president has told 
us that the recognition of the independence of nations is an 
incontestible right of sovereignty, shall we lag behind till 
the European powers think proper to advance? The pre- 
sident has assigned, as a reason for abstaining from the re- 
cognition, that the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle might take 
offence at it. So far from such an usurped interference 
being a reason for stopping, Mr. Clay said he would have ex- 
erted the right the sooner for it. But, the congress of Aix- 



226 MISSION TO SOUTH AMERICA. 

la-Chapelle had refused to interfere, and on that point the 
president was mistaken. Spain, it was true, had gone about 
begging the nations of Europe not to interfere in behalf of 
the South Americans; but the wishes of the whole unbiassed 
world must be in their favor. And while we had gone on, 
passing ntutrality bill after neutrality bill, and bills to pun- 
ish piracy — with respect to unquestioned piracy, no one, 
JVlr. Clay said, was more in favor of punishing it than he; 
but he had no idea of imputing piracy to men fighting un- 
der the flag of a people at war for independence — whilst 
we pursued this course even in advance of the legitimates 
of Europe, what, he asked, had been the course of England 
herself on this head? Here Mr. Clay quoted a few passa- 
ges from the work of Abbe de Pradt, recently translated by 
one of our citizens, which, he said, though the author was 
not very popular among crowned heads, no man could read 
without being enlightened and instructed. These passages 
dwelt on the importance of the commerce of South America, 
when freed from its present restraints, fccc. What would I 
give, exclaimed Mr. Clay, could we appreciate the advan- 
tages which may be realized by pursuing the course which 
I propose! It is in our power to create a system of which 
we shall be the centre, and in which all South America 
will act with us. In respect to commerce, we shall be most 
benefitted: this country would become the place of deposit 
of the commerce of the world. Our citizens engaged in 
foreign trade at present were disheartened by the condition 
of that trade: they must take new channels for it, and none 
so advantageous could be found as those which the trade 
with South America would afford. Mr. Clay took a pros- 
pective view of the growth of wealth, and increase of popu- 
lation of this country and South America. That country 
had now a population ot upwards of eighteen millions. The 
same activity in the principle of population would exist in 
that country as here. Twenty-five years hence it might 
be estimated at thirty -six millions; fifty years hence, at sev- 
enty-two millions. We now have a population of ten mil- 
lions. From the character of our population, we must 
always take the lead in the prosecution of commerce and 
maimfactures. Imagine the vast power of the two countries, 
ami the value of the intercourse between them, when we 
sha.l have a population of forty millions, and they of sev- 
enty millions! In relation to South America, the people 



MISSION TO SOUTH AMERICA. 227 

of the United States will occupy the same position as the 
people of New England do to the rest of the United States. 
Our enterprize, industry, and habits of economy, will give 
us the advantage in any competition which South America 
may sustain with us, &c. 

But, however important our early recognition of the in- 
dependence of the south might be to us, as respects our 
commercial and manufacturing interests, was there not 
another view of the subject, infinitely more gratifying? We 
should become the centre of a system which would consti- 
tute the rallying point of human freedom against all the des- 
potism of the old world. Did any man doubt the feelings 
of the South towards us? In spite of our coldness towards 
them, of the rigour of our laws, and the conduct of our of- 
ficers, their hearts still turned towards us, as to their breth- 
ren; and he had no earthly doubt if our government would 
take the lead and recognize them, they would become yet 
more anxious to imitate our institutions, and to secure to 
themselves and to their posterity the same freedom which 
we enjoy. 

On a subject of this sort, Mr. C. asked, was it possible 
we could be content to remain, as we now were, looking 
anxiously to Europe, watching the eyes ol lord Castlereagh, 
and getting scraps of letters doubtfully indicative of his 
wishes; and sending to the c?ar of Russia and getting 
another scrap from count Nesselrode? VVhy not proceed to 
act on our own responsibility and recognize these govern- 
ments as independent, instead of taking the lead of the holy 
alliance in a course which jeopardizes the happiness of un- 
born millions. Mr. Clay deprecated this deference for for- 
eign powers. If lord Castlereagh says we may recognize, we 
do; if not, we do not. A single expression of the British 
minister to the present secretary of state, then our minister 
abroad, he was ashamed to say, had moulded the polic) of 
our government towards South America. Our institutions, 
said Mr. Clay, now make us free; but how long shall we con- 
tinue so, if we mould our opinions on those of Europe? Let 
us break these commercial and political fetters; let us no long- 
er watth the nod of any European politician: let us become 
real and true Americans, and place ourselves at the head of 
the American system. 

Gtntlemen all said, they were all anxious to see the inde- 
pendence of the South established, if sympathy for them 



228 MISSION TO SOUTH AMERICA. 

was enough, the patriots would have reason to be satisfied 
with the abundant expressions of it. But something more 
was wanting. Some gentlemen had intimated that the 
people of the souih were unfit for freedom. Will gentle- 
men contend, said Mr, Clay, because those people are not 
like us in all particulars, they are therefore unfit for freedom? 
In some particulars, he ventured to say, that the people of 
South America were in advance of us. On the point which 
had been so much discussed on this floor during the pres- 
ent session, they were greatly in advance of us. Grenada, 
Venezuela, and Buenos Ayres had all emancipated their 
slaves. He did not say that we ought to do so, or that they 
ought to have done so, under different circumstances; but 
he rejoiced that the circumstances were such as to permit 
them to do it. 

Two questions only, Mr. Clay argued, were necessarily 
preliminary to the recognition of the independence of the 
people of the south: first, as to the fact of their independence; 
and secondly, as to the capacity for self-government. On 
the first point, not a doubt existed. On the second, there 
was every evidence in their favor. They had fostered 
schools with great care, there were more newspapers in the 
single town of Buenos Ayres (at the time he was speaking) 
than in the whole kingdom of Spain. He never saw a ques- 
tion discussed with more ability than that in a newspaper 
of Buenos Ayres, whether a federative or consolidated form 
of government was best. 

But, though every argument in favor of the recognitioiJ 
should be admitted to be just, it would be said that another 
revolution had occurred in Spain, and we ought therefore 
to delay. On the contrary, said Mr. C. every consideration 
recommended us to act now. If Spain succeeded in es- 
tablishing her freedom, the colonies must also be free. The 
first desire of a government itself free, must be to give lib- 
erty to its dependencies. On the other hand, if Spain should 
not succeed in gaining her freedom, no man can doubt that 
Spain, in her reduced state, woulil no longer have power to 
carry on the contest. So many millions of men could not be 
subjugated by the enervated arm and exhausted means of 
aged Spain. In ten years of war, the most unimportant pro- 
vince ot South America had not been subdued by all the 
wealth and the resources of Spain. 1 he certainty of the 
successful resistance of the attempts of Spain to reduce 



MISSION TO SOUTH AMERICA. 229 

them would be found In the great extent of the provinces 
of South America — of larger extent than all the empire of 
Russia. The relation of the colonies and mother country- 
could not exist, from the nature of things, under whatever 
aspect the government of Spain might assume. The condi- 
tion of Spain was no reason for neglecting now to do what 
we ought to have done long ago. Every thing, on the con- 
trary, tended to prove that this, this was the accepted time. 

With regard to the form of his proposition, Mr. Clay 
said, all he wanted was to obtain an expression of the opi- 
nion of the house on this subject; and whether a minister 
should be authorized to one or the other of these govern- 
ments, or whether he should be of one grade or of another, 
he cared not. This republic, with the exception of the peo- 
ple of South America, constituted the sole depository of 
political and religious freedom: and can it be possible, said 
he, that we can remain passive spectators of the struggle 
of those people to break the same chains which once bound 
us? The opinions of the friends of freedom in Europe is, 
that our policy has been cold, heartless, and indifferent to- 
wards the greatest cause which could possibly engage our 
affections and enlist our feelings in its behalf. 

Mr. C, concluded by saying that, whatever might be the 
decision of this house on this question, proposing shortly 
to go into retirement from public life, he should there have- 
the consolation of knowing that he had used his best exer- 
tions in favor of a people inhabiting a territory calculated 
to contain as many souls as the whole of Christendom be- 
sides, whose happiness was at stake, and which it was in the 
power of this government to do so much towards securing. 



230 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

House of Representatives^ January 16, 1824. 

The bill authorizing the president of the United States to 
cause certain surveys and estimates to be made on the sub- 
ject of roads and canals, being under consideration — 

Mr. Clay, (speaker) in rising, said, that he could not en- 
ter on the discussion of the subject before him, without first 
asking leave to express his thanks for the kindness of the 
committee, in so far accommodating him as to agree unan- 
imously to adjourn its sitting to the present time, in order 
to afford him the opportunity of exhibiting his views; which, 
however, he feared he should do very unacceptably. As a 
requital for this kindness, he would endeavor, as far as was 
practicable, to abbreviate what he had to present to their 
consideration. Ytt, on a question of this extent and mo- 
ment, there were so many topics which demanded a delibe- 
rate examination, that, from the nature of the case, it would 
be impossible, he was afraid, to reduce the argument to any- 
thing that the committee would consider a reasonable com- 
pass. 

It was known to all who heard him, that there had now 
existed for several years a difference of opinion between the 
executive and legislative^ branches of this government, as to 
the nature and extent of certain powers conferred upon it 
by the constitution. Two successive presidents had returned 
to congress bills which had previously passed both houses 
of that body, with a communication of the opinion that con- 
gress, under the constitution, possessed no power to enact 
such laws. High respect, personal and official, must be felt 
by all, as it was due, to those distinguished officers, and to 
their opinions thus solemnly announced; and the most pro- 
found consideration belongs to our present chief magistrate, 
who had favoured that house with a written argument, of 
great length and labour, consisting of not less than sixty or 
seventy pages, in support of his exposition of the constitu- 
tion. From the magnitude of the interests involved in the 
question, all would readily concur, that, if the power is 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 231 

granted, and does really exist, it ought to be vindicated, up- 
held, and maintained, that the country might derive the great 
benefits which may flow from its prudent exercise. If it has 
not been communicated to congress, then all claim to it 
should be, at once, surrendered. It was a circumstance of 
peculiar regret to him, that one more competent than him- 
self had not risen to support the course which the legislative 
department had heretofore felt itself bound to pursue on this 
great question. Of all the trusts which are created by hu- 
man agency, that is the highest, m.ost solemn, and most 
responsible, which involves the exercise of political power. 
Exerted when it has not been intrusted, the public function- 
ary is guilty of usurpation. And his infidelity to the public 
good is not, perhaps, less culpable, when he neglects or re- 
fuses to exercise a power which has been fairly conveyed, 
to promote the public prosperity. If the power which he thus 
forbears to exercise, can only be exerted by him — if no other 
public functionary can employ it, and the public good requires 
its exercise, his treachery is greatly aggravated. It is only 
in those cases where the object of the investment of power 
is the personal ease or aggrandizement of the public agent, 
that his forbearance to use it is praiseworthy, gracious, or 
magnanimous. 

He was extremely happy to find, that, on many of the 
points of the argument of the honourable gentleman from 
Virginia, (Mr. Barbour) there was entire concurrence be- 
tween them, widely as they differed in their ultimate con- 
clusions. On this occasion (as on all others on which that 
gentleman obliged the house with an expression of his 
opinions) he displayed great ability and ingenuity; and, as 
well from the matter as from the respectful manner of his 
argument, it was deserving of the most thorough considera- 
tion. He was compelled to differ from that gentleman at 
the very threshold. He had commenced by laying down as 
a general principle, that, in the distribution of powers among 
our federal and state governments, those which were of a 
municipal character were to be considered as appertaining 
to the state governments, and those which related to exter- 
nal affairs, to the general government. If he might be al- 
lowed to throw the argument of the gentleman into the form 
of a syllogism, (a shape which he presumed would be quite 
agreeable to him) it amounted to this: Municipal powers 
belong exclusively to the state governmentsj but the power 



232 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

to make internal improvements is municipal; therefore it 
belongs to the state governments alone. He (Mr. C.) de- 
nied both the premises and the conclusion. If the gentle- 
man had affirmed that certain municipal powers, and the 
great mass of them, belong to the state governments, his 
proposition would have been incontrovertible. But if he 
had so qualified it, it would not have assisted the gentleman 
at all in his conclusion. But surely the power of taxation 
— the power to regulate the value of coin — the power to es- 
tablish a uniform standard of weights and measures — to es- 
tablish post offices and post roads — to regulate commerce 
among the several states — that in relation to the judiciary — 
besides many other powers indisputably belonging to the 
federal government, are strictlv municipal. If, as he under- 
stood the gentleman in the course of the subsequent part of 
his argument to admit, some municipal powers belong to the 
one system, and some to the other, we shall derive very 
little aid from the gentleman's principle, in making the dis- 
crimination between the two. The question must ever re- 
main open — whether any given power, and, of course, that 
in question, is or is not delegated to this government, or 
retained by the states? 

The conclusion of the gentleman is, that all internal im- 
provements belong to the state governments; that they are 
of a limited and local character, and are not comprehended 
within the scope of the federal powers, which relate to ex- 
ternal or general objects. That many, perhaps most inter- 
nal improvements, partake of the character described by the 
gentleman, he (Mr. C.) should not deny. But it was no 
less true that there were others, emphatically national, which 
neither the policy, nor the power, nor the interests, of any 
state would induce it to accomplish, and which could only 
be effected by the application of the resources of the nation. 
The improvement of the navigation of the Mississippi would 
furnish a striking example. This was undeniably a great 
and important object. The report of a highly scientific and 
intelligent officer of the engineer corps, (which Mr. C. hoped 
would be soon taken up and acted uponj had shown that 
the cost of any practicable improvement in the navigation of 
that river, in the present state of the inhabitants of its banks, 
was a mere trifle in comparison to the great benefits which 
would accrue from it. He (Mr. C.) believed that about 
double the amount of the loss of a single steam-boat and 



\ 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT 233 

cargo, (the Tennessee) would effect the whole Improvement 
in the navigation of that river, which ought to be at this 
time attempted. In this great object twelve states and two 
territories were, in different degrees, interested. The power 
to effect the improvement of that river was surely not mu- 
nicipal, in the sense in which the gentleman used the term. 
If it were, to which of the twelve states and two territories 
concerned did it belong? It was a great object, which could 
only be effected by a confederacy. And here is existing 
that confederacy, and no other can lawfully exist: for the 
constitution prohibits the states, immediately interested, 
from entering into any treaty or compact with each other. 
Other examples might be given to show, that, if even the 
power existed, the inclination to exert it would not be felt, 
to effectuate certain improvements eminently calculated to 
promote the prosperity of the union. Neither of the three 
states, nor all of them united, through which the Cumber- 
land road passes, would ever have erected that road. Two 
of them would have thrown in every impediment to its com- 
pletion in their power. Federative in its character, it could 
only have been executed so far by the application of federa- 
tive means. Again: the contemplated canal through New 
Jersey; that to connect the waters of the Chesapeake and 
Delaware; that to unite the Ohio and the Potomac, were 
all objects of a general and federative nature, in which the 
states, through which they might severally pass, could not 
be expected to feel any such special interest as would lead 
to their execution. Tending, as undoubtedly they would do, 
to promote the good of the whole, the power and the trea- 
sure of the whole must be applied to their execution, if 
they are ever consummated. 

Mr. Clay did not think, then, that we should be at all 
assisted in expounding the constitution of the United States, 
by the principle which the gentleman from Virginia had 
suggested in respect to municipal powers. The powers of 
both governments were undoubtedly municipal, often opera- 
ting upon the same subject. He thought a better rule than 
that which the gentleman furnished for interpreting the con- 
stitution, might be deduced from an attentive consideration 
of the peculiar character of the articles of confederation, as 
contrasted with that of the present constitution. By those 
articles, the powers of the thirteen United States were ex- 
erted collaterally. They operated through an intermediary, 
Hh 



234 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

They were addressed to the several states, and their exe- 
cution depended upon the pleasure and the co-operation of 
the states individually. The states seldom fulfilled the ex- 
pectations of the general government in regard to its requi- 
sitions, and often wholly disappointed them. Languor and 
debility, in the movement of the old confederation, were 
the inevitable consequence of that arrangement of power. 
By the existing constitution, the powers of the general go- 
vernment act directly on the persons and things within its 
scope, without the intervention or impediments incident to 
any intermediary. In executing the great trust which the 
constitution of the United States creates, we must, therefore, 
reject that interpretation of its provisions which would make 
the general government dependent upon those of the states 
for the execution of any of its powers; and may safely con- 
clude that the only genuine construction would be that which 
should enable this government to execute the great purposes 
of its institution, without the co-operation, and, if indispen- 
sably necessary, even against the will of any particular state. 
This is the characteristic difference between the two sys- 
tems of government, of which we should never lose sight. 
Interpreted in the one way, we shall relapse into the feeble- 
ness and debility of the old confederacy. In the other, we 
shall escape from its evils, and fulfil the great purposes 
which the enlightened framers of the existing constitution 
intended to effectuate. The importance of this essential dif- 
ference in the two forms of government, would be shown in 
the future progress of the argument. 

Before he proceeded to comment upon those parts of the 
constitution which appeared to him to convey the power in 
question, he hoped he should be allowed to disclaim, for 
his part, several sources whence others had deduced the 
authority. The gentleman from Virginia seemed to think 
it remarkable that the friends of the power should disagree 
so much among themselves; and to draw a conclusion against 
its existence from the fact of this discrepancy. But he (Mr. 
C.) could see nothing extraordinary in this diversity of 
views. What was more common than for different men to 
cont.-mplate the same subject under various aspects? Such 
was the nature of the human mind, that enlightened men, 
perfectly upright in their intentions, differed in their opin- 
ions on almost every topic that could be mentioned. It was 
rather a presumption, in favour of the cause which he was 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 235 



'*\ \xr.. •• • '•• •• "^ 



humbly maintaining, that the same result should be attained 
by so many various modes of reasoning. But, if contrariety 
of views might be pleaded with any effect against the ad- 
vocates of the disputed power, it equally availed against 
their opponents. There was, for example, not a very exact 
coincidence in opinion between the president of the United 
States and the gentleman from Virginia. The president 
says, (page 25 of his book,) " The use of the existing road, 
by the stage, mail carrier, or post boy, in passing over it, 
as others do, is all that would be thought of; the jurisdiction 
and soil remaining to the state, with a right in the state, or 
those authorized by its legislature^ to change the road at 
pleasure-'*'' Again, page 27, the president asks, " If the United 
States possessed the power contended for under this grant, 
might they not, in adopting the roads of the individual states, 
for the carriage of the mail, as has been done, assume juris- 
diction over them, and preclude a right to interfere with or 
alter them?" They both agree that ihe general government 
does not possess the power. The gentleman from Virginia 
admits, if he (Mr. C.) understood him correctly, that the 
designation of a state road as a post road, so far withdrew 
it from the jurisdiction of the state, that it could not be after- 
wards put down or closed by the state; and in this he claims 
for the general government more power than the president 
concedes to it. The president, on the contrary, pronounces, 
that " the absurdity of such a pretension," (that is, prevent- 
ing, by the designation of a post road, the power of the 
state from altering or changing it,) " must be apparent to 
all who examine it!" The gentleman thinks that the desig- 
nation of a post road withdraws it entirely, so far as it is 
used for that purpose, from the power of the wh<ile state; 
whilst the president thinks it absurd to assert that a mere 
county court may not defeat the execution of a law of the 
United States! The president thinks that, under the power 
of appropriating the money of the United States, congress 
may apply it to any object of internal improvement, pro- 
vided it does not assume any territorial jurisdiction; and, 
in this respect, he claims for the general government more 
power than the gentleman from Virginia assigns to it. And 
he (Mr. C.j must own, that he so far coincided with the 
gentleman from Virginia. If the power can be traced to no 
more legitimate source than to that of appropriating the 
public treasure, he yielded the question. 



236 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

The truth is, that there is no specific grant, in the consti- 
tution, of the power of appropriation; nor was any such 
requisite. It is a resulting power. I he constitution vests in 
congress the power of taxation, with but few limitations, to 
raise a public revenue. It then enumerates the powers of 
congress. And it follows, of necessity, that congress has 
the right to apply the money, so raised, to the execution of 
the powers so granted. The clause which concludes the 
enumeration of the granted powers, by authorizing the pas- 
sage of all law?, *' necessary and proper" to effectuate them, 
comprehends the power of appropriation. And the framers 
of the constitution recognize it by the restriction that no 
money shall be drawn from the treasury but in virtue of a 
previous appropriation by law. It was to him wonderful 
how the president should have brought his mind to the con- 
clusion, that, under the power of appropriation, thus inci- 
dentally existing, a right could be set up, in its nature al- 
most without limitation, to employ the public money. He 
combats with great success and much ability, any deduction 
of power from the clause relating to the general welfare. 
He shows that the effect of it would be to overturn, or ren- 
der useless and nugatory, the careful enumeration of our 
powers; and that it would convert a cautiously limited go- 
vernment into one without limitation. The same process of 
reasoning by which his mind was brought to this just conclu- 
sion, one would have thought, should have warned him 
against his claiming, under the power of appropriation, such 
a vast latitude of authority. He reasons strongly against the 
power, as claimed by us, harmless and beneficent and limit- 
ed, as it must be admitted to be, and yet he sets up a power 
boundless in its extent, unrestrained to the object of inter- 
nal improvements, and comprehending the whole scope of 
human affairs! For, if the power exists, as he asserts it, 
what human restraint is there upon it? He does, indeed, 
say, that it cannot be exerted so as to interfere with the terri- 
torial jurisdiction of the states. But this is a restriction al- 
together gratuitous, flowing from the bounty of the presi- 
dent, and not found in the prescriptions of the constitution. 
If we have a right, indefinitely, to apply the money of the 
government to internal improvements, or to any other ob- 
ject, what is to prevent the application of it to the purchase 
of the sovereignty itself, of a state, if a state were mean 
enough to sell its sovereignty — to the purchase of kingdoms 

/ 
/ 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 2S7 

empires, the globe itself? With an almost unlimited power 
of taxation; and, after the revenue is raised, with aright to 
apply it under no other limitations than those which the 
president's caution has suggested, he could not see what 
other human power was needed. It had been said, by Caesar 
or Bonaparte, no doubt thought by both, that, with soldiers 
enough, they could get money enough; and, with money 
enough, they could command soldiers enough. According 
to the president's interpretation of the constitution, one of 
these great levers of public force and power is possessed by 
this government. The president seems to contemplate, as 
fraught with much danger, the power, humbly as it is claim- 
ed, to effect the internal improvement of the country. And, 
in his attempt to overthrow it, sets up one of infinitely greater 
magnitude. The quantum of power which we claim over 
the subject of internal improvement, is, it is true, of greater 
amount and force than that which results from the presi- 
dent's view of the constitution; but then it is limited to the 
object of internal improvements; whilst the power set up by 
the president has no such limitation; and, in effect, as Mr. 
C. conceived, has no limitation whatever, but that of the 
ability of the people to bear taxation. 

With the most profound respect for the president, and 
after the most deliberate consideration of his argument, Mr. 
C. could not agree with him. He could not think that any 
political power accrued to this government, from the mere 
authority which it possessed to appropriate the public reve- 
nue. The power to make internal improvements drew after 
it, most certainly, the right to appropriate money to con- 
summate the object. But he could not conceive that this right 
of appropriation drew after it the power of internal improve- 
ments. The appropriation of money was consequence, not 
cause. It follows; it does not precede. According to the 
order of nature, we first determine upon the object to be ac- 
complished, and then appropriate the money necessary to 
its consummation. According to the order of the constitu- 
tion, the power is defined, and the application, that is, the 
appropriation of the money requisite to its effectuation, fol- 
lows as a necessary and proper means. The practice of con- 
gressional legislation was conformable to both. We first 
inquire what we may do, and provide by law for its being 
done, and we then appropriate, by another act of legislation, 
.the money necessary to accomplish the specified object. The 



238 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

error of the argument lies in its beginning too soon. It sup- 
poses the money to be in the treasury, and then seeks to 
disburse it. But how came it there? Congress cannot im- 
pose taxes without an object. Their imposition must be in 
reference to the whole mass of our powers, to the general 
purposes of government, or with the view to the fulfilment 
of some one of those powers, or to the attainment of some 
one of those purposes. In either case, we consult the con- 
stitution, and ascertain the extent of the authority which is 
confided to us. We cannot, constitutionally, lay the taxes 
without regard to the extent of our powers; and then, having 
acquired the money of the public, appropriate it, because 
we have got it, to any object indefinitely. 

Nor did he claim the power in question, from the consent 
or grant of any particular state or states, through which an 
object of internal improvement mightpass. It might, indeed, 
be prudent to consult a state through which such an im- 
provement might happen to be carried, from considerations 
of deference and respect to its sovereign power; and from 
a disposition to maintain those relations of perfect amity 
which are ever desirable, between the general and state go- 
vernments. But the power to establish the improvement, 
must be found in the constitution, or it does not exist. And 
what is granted by all, it cannot be necessary to obtain the 
consent of some to perform. 

The gentleman from Virginia, in speaking of incidental 
powers, had used a species of argument which he entreated 
him candidly to reconsider. He had said, that the chain of 
cause and effect was without end; that if we argued from 
a power expressly granted to all others, which might be con- 
venient or necessary to its execution, there were no bounds 
to the power of this government; that, for example, under 
the power " to provide and maintain a navy," the right 
might be assumed to the timber necessary to its construc- 
tion, and the soil on which it grew. The gentleman might 
have added, the acorns from which it sprung. What, upon 
the gentleman's own hypothesis, ought to have been his 
conclusion? That congress possessed no power to provide 
and maintain a navy. Such a conclusion would have been 
quite as logical, as that congress has no power over inter- 
nal improvements, from the possible lengths to which this 
power may be pushed. No one ever had, or could, contro- 
vert the existence of incidental powers. We may apply dif- 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 239 

ferent rules for their extraction, but all must concur in the 
necessity of their actual existence. They result from the 
imperfections of our nature, and from the utter impossibility 
of foreseeing all the turns and vicissitudes in human affairs. 
They cannot be defined. Much is attained when the power, 
the end, is specified and guarded. Keeping that constantly 
in view, the means necessary to its attainment must be left 
to the sound and responsible discretion of the public func- 
tionary. Intrench him as you please, employ what language 
you may, in the constitutional instrument, "necessary and 
proper," " indispensably necessary," or any other, and the 
question is still left open, does the proposed measure fall 
within the scope of the incidental power, circumscribed as 
it may be? Your safety against abuse must rest in his in- 
terest, his integrity, his responsibility to the exercise of the 
elective franchise; finally, in the ultimate right, when all 
other redress fails, of an appeal to the remedy, to be used 
only in extreme cases, of forcible resistance against intoler- 
able oppression. 

Doubtless, by an extravagant and abusive enlargement of 
incidental powers, the state governments may be reduced 
within too narrow limits. Take any power, however incon- 
testibly granted to the general government, and employ that 
kind of process of reasoning in which the gentleman from 
Virginia is so skilful, by tracing it to its remotest effects, 
you may make it absorb the powers of the state governments. 
Pursue the opposite course; take any incontestible power 
belonging to the state governments, and follow it out into 
all its possible ramifications, and you may make it thwart 
and defeat the great operations of the government of the 
whole. This is the consequence of our systems. Their har- 
mony is to be preserved only by forbearance, liberality, 
practical good sense, and mutual concession. Bring these 
dispositions into the administrations of our various institu- 
tions, and all the dreaded conflicts of authorities will be 
found to be perfectly imaginary. 

He said, that he disclaimed, for himself, several sources 
to which others had ascended, to arrive at the power in 
question. In making this disclaimer, he meant to cast no 
imputation on them. He was glad to meet them by what- 
ever road they travelled, at the point of a constitutional 
conclusion. Nor did their positions weaken his; on the con- 
trary, if correctly taken, and his, also, were justified by fair 



240 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

interpretation, they added strength to his. But he felt it 
his duty, frankly and sincerely, to state his own views of the 
constitution. In coming to the ground on which (said Mr. 
C.) I make my stand to maintain the power, and where I 
am ready to meet its antagonist, I am happy, in the outset, 
to state my hearty concurrence with the gentleman from 
Virginia, in the old, 1798, republican principles, (now be- 
come federal, also,) by which the constitution is to be in- 
terpreted. I agree with him, that this is a limited govern- 
ment; that it has no powers but the granted powers; and 
that the granted powers are those which are expressly enu- 
merated, or such as, being implied, arc necessary and proper 
to effectuate the enumerated powers. And, if I do not show 
the power over federative, national, internal improvements, 
to be fairly deducible, after the strictest application ot these 
principles, I entreat the committe unanimously to reject the 
bill. The gentleman from Virginia has rightly anticipated, 
that, in regard to roads, I claim the power, under the grant, 
to establish post offices and post roads. The whole question, 
on this part of the subject, turns upon the true meaning of 
this clause, and that again upon the genuine signification of 
the word " establish^''' According to my understanding of 
it, the meaning of it is, to fix, to make firm, to build. Ac- 
cording to that of the gentleman from Virginia, it is to 
designate, to adopt. Grammatical criticism was to me, al- 
ways unpleasant, and I do not profess to be any proficient 
in it. But I will confidently appeal, in support of my defi- 
nition, to any vocabulary whatever, of respectable authority, 
and to the common use of the word. That it could not 
mean only adoption, was to me evident; for adoption pre- 
supposes establishment, which is precedent in its very na- 
ture. That which does not exist, which is not established, 
cannot be adopted. There was, then, an essential difference 
between the gentleman from Virginia and me. I consider 
the power as original and creative; he as derivative, adopt- 
ive. But I will show, out of the mouth of the president 
himself, who agrees with the gentleman from Virginia, as 
to the sense of this word, that what I contend for, is its ge- 
nuine meaning. The president, in almost the first lines of 
his message to this house, of the fourth of May, 1822, return- 
ing the Cumberland bill with his veto, says, " a power to 
establish turnpikes, with gates and tolls, &c. implies a power 
to adopt and execute a complete system of internal improve- 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 241 

ment." What is the sense in which the word " establish" 
is here used? Is it not creative? Did the president mean to 
adopt or designate some pre-existing turnpikes, with gates, 
&c. or, for the first time, to set them up, under the authority 
of congress? Again, the president says, " if it exist as to 
one road, [that is, the power to lay duties of transit, and to 
take the land on a valuation,] it exists as to any other, and 
to as many roads as congress may think proper to * estab- 
lish.'' " In what sense does he here employ the word? The 
truth is, that the president could employ no better than the 
constitutional word, and he is obliged to use it in the pre- 
cise sense for which I contend. But I go to a higher au- 
thority than that of the chief magistrate — to that of the con- 
stitution itself. In expounding that instrument, we must 
look at all its parts; and if we find a word, the meaning of 
which it is desirable to obtain, we may safely rest upon the 
use which has been made of the same word in other parts 
of the instrument. The word " establish" is one of frequent 
recurrence in the constitution; and I venture to say that it 
will be found uniformly to express the same idea. In the 
clause enumerating our powers, congress has power "■ to es~ 
tablish a, uniform rule of naturalization," &c. In the pream- 
ble, " we, the people of the United States, in order to form 
a more perfect union, establish justice, &c. do ordain and 
establish this constitution," &c. What pre-existing code 
of justice was adopted? Did not the people of the United 
States, in this high, sovereign act, contemplate the construc- 
tion of a code adapted to their federal condition? The sense 
of the word, as contended for, was self evident when ap- 
plied to the constitution. 

But let us look at the nature, object, and purposes of the 
power. The trust confided to congress was one of the most 
beneficial character. It was the diffusion of information 
among all the parts of this republic. It was the transmission 
and circulation of intelligence; it was to communicate know- 
ledge of the laws and acts of government; and to promote 
the great business of society in all its relations. This was 
a great trust, capable of being executed in a highly salutary 
manner. It could be executed only by congress, and it 
should be as well performed as it could be, considering the 
wants and exigencies of government. And here I beg leave 
to advert to the principle which I some time ago laid down, 
that the powers granted to this government are to be carried 
I i 



242 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

into execution by its own inherent force and energy, with- 
out necessary dependence upon the state governments. If 
my construction secures this object; and if that of my op- 
ponents places the execution of this trust at the pleasure 
and mercy of the state governments, we must reject theirs 
and assume mine. Hut the construction of the president 
does make it so dependent. He contends that we can only 
use as post roads those which the states shall have previously 
established; that they are at liberty to alter, to change, and 
of course to shut them up at pleasure. It results from this 
view of the president that any of the great mail routes now 
existing, that, for example, from south to north, may be 
closed at pleasure or by caprice, by any one of the states, 
or its authorities, through which it passes, by that of Dela- 
ware or any other. Is it possible that that construction of 
the constitution can be correct, which allows a law of the 
United Stales, enacted for the good of the whole, to be ob- 
structed or defeated in its operation by any one of twenty- 
four sovereignties? The gentleman from Virginia, it is true, 
denies the right of a state to close a road which has been 
designated as a post road. But suppose the state, no longer 
having occasion to use it for its own separate and peculiar 
purposes, withdraws all care and attention from its preser- 
vation. Can the state be compelled to repair it? No! the 
gentleman from Virginia must say, and I will say — May not 
the general government repair this road which is abandoned 
by the state power? May it not repair it in the most effica- 
cious manner? And may it not protect and defend that which 
it has thus repaired, and which there is no longer an interest 
or inclination in the state to protect and defend? Or does 
the gentleman mean to contend that a road may exist in the 
statute book, which a state will not, and the general govern- 
ment cannot, repair and improve? And what sort of an ac- 
count should we render to the people of the United States, 
of the execution of the high trust confided, for their bene- 
fit, to us, if we were to tell them that we had failed to ex- 
ecute it, because a state would not make a road for us? 

The roads, and other internal improvements of states, are 
made in reference to their individual interests. It is the eye 
only of the whole, and the power of the whole, that can look 
to the interests of all. In the infancy of the government, 
and in the actual state of the public treasury, it may be the 
only alternative left us to use those roads, which are made 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. . 243 

for state purposes, to promote the national object, ill as they 
may be adapted to it. It may never be necessary to make 
more than a few great national arteries of communication, 
leaving to the states the lateral and minor ramifications. 
Even these should only be executed, without pressure upon 
the resources of the country, and according to the conve- 
nience and ability of government. But, surely, in the per- 
formance of a great national duty imposed upon this govern- 
ment, which has for its object the distribution of intelligence, 
civil, commercial, literary, and social, we ought to perform 
the substance of the trust, and not content ourselves with a 
mere inefficient paper execution of it. If I am right in these 
views, the power to establish post roads being in its nature 
original and creative, and the government having adopted 
the roads made by state means, only from its inability to 
exert the whole extent of its authority, the controverted 
power is expressly granted to congress, and there is an end 
of the question. 

It ought to be borne in mind, that this power over roads 
was not contained in the articles of confederation, which 
limited congress to the establishment of post offices; and 
that the general character of the present constitution, as 
contrasted with those articles, is that of an enlargement of 
power. But, if the construction of my opponents be correct, 
we are left precisely where the articles of confederation left 
us, notwithstanding the additional words contained in the 
present constitution. What, too, will the gentlemen do with 
the first member of the clause to establish post offices? Must 
congress adopt, designate, some pre-existing office, estab- 
lished by state authority? But there is none such. May it 
not then fix, build, create, establish offices of its own? 

The gentleman from Virginia sought to alarm us by the 
awful emphasis with which he set before us the total extent 
of post roads in the union. Eighty thousand miles of post 
roads! exclaimed the gentleman; and will you assert for the 
general government jurisdiction, and erect turnpikes, on 
such an immense distance? Not to-day, nor to-morrow; but 
this government is to last, I trust, for ever; we may at least 
hope it will endure until the wave of population, cultivation, 
and intelligence, shall have washed the rocky mountains 
and mingled with the Pacific. And may we not also hope 
that the day will arrive when the improvements and the 
comforts of social life shall spread over ihe wide surface of 



244 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

this vast continent? All this is not to be suddenly done. 
Society must not be burthened or oppressed. Things must 
be gradual and progressive. The same species of formid- 
able array which the gentleman makes, might be exhibited 
in reference to the construction of a navy, or any other of 
the great purposes of government. We might be told of the 
fleets and vessels of great maritime powers, which whiten 
the ocean; and triumphantly asked if we should vainly at- 
tempt to cope with or rival that tremendous power? And 
we should shrink from the effort, if we were to listen to his 
counsels, in hopeless despair. Yes, sir, it is a subject of 
peculiar delight to me to look forward to the proud and 
happy period, distant as it may be, when circulation and as- 
sociation between the Atlantic and the Pacific and the 
Mexican gulf, shall be as free and perfect as they are at this 
moment in England, or in any other the most highly im- 
proved country on the globe. In the mean time, without 
bearing heavily upon any of our important interests, let us 
apply ourselves to the accomplishment of what is most prac- 
ticable and immediately necessary. 

But what most staggers my honorable friend, is the juris- 
diction over the sites of roads and other internal improve- 
ments which he supposes congress might assume; and he 
considers the exercise of such a jurisdiction as furnishing 
the just occasion for serious alarm. Let us analyze the sub- 
ject- Prior to the erection of a road under the authority of 
the general government, there existed, in the state through 
which it passes, no actual exercise of jurisdiction over the 
ground which it traverses as a road. There was only the 
possibility of the exercise of such a jurisdiction, when the 
state should, if ever, erect such a road. But the road is 
made by the authority of congress, and out oitht fact of its 
erection arises a necessity for its preservation and protec- 
tion. The road is some thirty or fifty or sixty feet in width, 
and with that narrow limit passes through a part of the 
territory of the state. The capital expended in the making 
of the road incorporates itself with and becomes a part of 
the permanent and immovable property of the state. The 
jurisdiction which is claimed for the general government, 
is that only which relates to the necessary defence, protec- 
tion, and preservation, of the road. It is of a character al- 
together conservative. Whatever does not relate to the ex- 
'istence and protection of the road remains with the state 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 245 

Murders, trespasses, contracts, all the occurrences and trans- 
actions of society upon the road, not affecting its actual ex- 
istence, will fall within the jurisdiction of the civil or crimi- 
nal tribunals of the state, as if the road had never been 
brought into existence. Hovr much remains to the state! 
How little is claimed for the general government! Is it 
possible that a jurisdiction so limited, so harmless, so un- 
ambitious, can be regarded as seriously alarming to the so- 
vereignty of the states! Congress now asserts and exercises, 
without contestation, a power to protect the mail in its tran- 
sit, by the sanction of all suitable penalties. The man who 
violates it is punished with death, or otherwise, according 
to the circumstances of the case. This power is exerted as 
incident to that of establishing post offices and post roads. 
Is the protection of the thing in transitu a power more clear- 
ly deducible from the grant, than that of facilitating, by 
means of a practicable road, its actual transportation? Mails 
certainly imply roads, roads imply their own preservation, 
their preservation implies the power to preserve them, and 
the constitution tells us, in express terms, that we shall es- 
tablish the one and the other. 

In respect to cutting canals, I admit the question is not 
quite so clear as in regard to roads. With respect to these, 
as I have endeavoured to show, the power is expressly- 
granted. In regard to canals, it appears to me to be fairly- 
comprehended in, or deducible from, certain granted powers. 
Congress has power to regulate commerce with foreign na- 
tions and among the several states. Precisely the same 
measure of power which is granted in the one case is con- 
ferred in the other. And the uniform practical exposition 
of the constitution, as to the regulation of foreign commerce, 
is equally applicable to that among the several states. Sup- 
pose, instead of directing the legislation of this government 
constantly, as heretofore, to the object of foreign commerce, 
to the utter neglect of the interior commerce among the se- 
veral states, the fact had been reversed, and now, for the 
first time, we were about to legislate for our foreign trade: 
Should we not, in that case, hear all the constitutional ob- 
jections made to the erection of buoys, beacons, light-houses, 
the surveys of coasts, and the other numerous facilities 
accorded to the foreign trade, which we now hear to the 
making of roads and canals? Two years ago, a sea-wall, or, 
in other words, a marine canal, was authorized bv an act of 



246 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

congress, in New Hampshire; and I doubt not that many of 
those voted for it who have now constitutional scruples on 
this bill. Yes, any thing, every thing, may be done for 
foreign commerce; any thing, every thing, on the margin of 
the ocean: but nothing for domestic trade; nothing for the 
great interior of the country! Yet, the equity and the be- 
neficence of the constitution equally comprehends both. The 
gentleman does, indeed, maintain that there is a difference 
as to the character of the facilities in the two cases. But I 
put it to his own candour, whether the only difference is not 
that which springs from the nature of the two elements on 
which the two species of commerce are conducted — the dif- 
ference between land and water. The principle is the same, 
whether you promote commerce by opening for it an arti- 
ficial channel where now there is none, or by increasing the 
ease or safety with which it may be conducted through a 
natural channel which the bounty of providence has bestow- 
ed. In the one case, your object is to facilitate arrival and 
departure from the ocean to the land. In the other, it is 
to accomplish the same object from the land to the ocean. 
Physical obstacles may be greater in the one case than ia 
the other, but the moral or constitutional power equally in- 
cludes both. The gentleman from Virginia had, to be sure, 
contended that the power to make these commercial facili- 
ties was to be found in another clause of the constitution — 
that which enables congress to obtain cessions of territorj' 
for specific objects, and grants to it an exclusive jurisdiction. 
These cessions may be obtained for the " erection of forts, 
magazines, arsenals, dockyards, or other needful buildings." 
It is apparent that it relates altogether to military or naval 
affairs, and not to the regulation of commerce. How was 
the marine canal covered by this clause? Is it to be con- 
sidered as a "needful buildingr" The object of this power 
is perfectly obvious. The convention saw that, in military 
or naval posts, such as are indicated, it was indispensably 
necessarv, for their proper government, to vest in congress 
the power of exclusive legislation. If we claimed over ob- 
jects of internal improvement an exclusive jurisdiction, the 
gentleman might urge, with much force, the clause in ques- 
tion. But the claim of concurrent jurisdiction only is as- 
serted. The gentleman professes himself unable to compre- 
hend how concurrent jurisdiction can be exercised by two 
different governments at the same time over the same per- 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 247 

sons and things. But, is not this the fact with respect to 
the state and federal governments? Does not every person, 
and every thing, within our limits, sustain a two- fold relation 
to the state and to the federal authority? The power of 
taxation as exerted by both governments, that over the 
militia, besides many others, is concurrent. No doubt em- 
barrassing cases may be conceived and stated by gentlemen 
of acute and ingenious minds. One was put to me yesterday. 
Two canals are desired, one by the federal, and the other 
by a state government; and there is not a supply of water 
but for the feeder of one canal — which is to take it? The 
constitution, which ordains the supremacy of the laws of 
the United States, answers the question. The good of the 
whole is paramount to the good of a part. The same diffi- 
culty might possibly arise in the exercise of the incontestible 
power of taxation. We know that the imposition of taxes 
has its limits. 1 here is a maximum which cannot be tran- 
scended. Suppose the citizen to be taxed by the general 
government to the utmost extent of his ability, or a thing 
as much as it can possibly bear, and the state imposes a tax 
at the same time, which authority is to take it? Extreme 
cases of this sort may serve to amuse and to puzzle; but 
they will hardly ever arise in practice. And we may safely 
confide in the moderation, good sense, and mutual good 
dispositions, of the two governments, to guard against the 
imagined conflicts. 

It is said by the president, that the power to regulate 
commerce merely authorises the laying of imposts and 
duties. But congress has no power to lay imposts and duties 
on the trade among the several states. The grant must 
mean, therefore, something else. What is it? The power 
to regulate commerce among the several states, if it has any 
meaning, implies authority to foster it, to promote it, to 
bestow on it facilities similar to those which have been 
conceded to our foreign trade, it cannot mean only an 
empty authority to adopt regulations, without the capacity 
to give practical effect to them. All the powers of this 
government should be interpreted in reference to its first, 
its best, its greatest object, the union of these states. And 
is not that union best invigorated by an intimate, social, and 
commercial connexion between all the parts of the confede- 
racy? Can that be accomplished, that is, can the federative 
objects of this government be attained, but by the application 
of federative resources? 



248 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

Of all the powers bestowed on this government, Mr. Clay 
thought none were more clearly vested, than that to regulate 
the distribution of the intelligence, private and official, of 
the country; to regulate the distribution of its commerce; 
and to regulate the distribution of the physical force of the 
union. In the execution of the high and solemn trust which 
these beneficial powers imply, we must look to the great 
ends which the framers of our admirable constitution had 
in view We must reject, as wholly incompatible with their 
enlightened and beneficent intentions, that construction of 
these powers which would resuscitate all the debility and 
inefficiency of the ancient confederacy. In the vicissitudes 
of human affairs, who can foresee all the possible cases, in 
which it may be necessary to apply the public force, within 
or without the union? This government is charged with the 
use of it, to repel invasions, to suppress insurrections, to en- 
force the laws of the union; in short, for all the unknown and 
undefinable purposes of war, foreign or intestine, wherever 
and however it may rage. During its existence, may not 
government, for its effectual prosecution, order a road to be 
made, or a canal to be cut, to relieve, for example, an ex- 
posed point of the union? If, when the emergency comes, 
there is a power to provide for it, that power must exist in 
the constitution, and not in the emergency. A wise, pre- 
cautionary, and parental policy, anticipating danger, will 
beforehand provide for the hour of need. Roads and canals 
are in the nature of fortifications, since, if not the deposites 
of military resources, they enable you to bring into rapid 
action, the military resources of the country, whatever they 
may be. They are better than any fortifications, because 
they serve the double purposes of peace and of war. They 
dispense, in a great degree, with fortifications, since they 
have all the effect of that concentration, at which fortifications 
aim. I appeal from the precepts of the president to the 
practice of the president. While he denies to congress the 
power in question, he does not scruple, upon his sole au- 
thority, as numerous instances in the statute book will 
testify, to order, at pleasure, the opening of roads by the 
military, and then come here to ask us to pay for them. 
Nay, more, sir; a subordinate, but highly respectable officer 
of the executive government, I believe, would not hesitate 
to provide a boat or cause a bridge to be erected over an 
inconsiderable stream, to ensure the regular transportation 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 249 

of the mail. And it happens to be within my personal 
knowledge, that the head of the post office department, as a 
prompt and vigilant officer should do, had recently des- 
patched an agent to ascertain the causes of the late frequent 
vexatious failures of the great northern mail, and to inquire 
if a provision of a boat or bridge over certain small streams 
in Maryland, which have produced them, would not prevent 
their recurrence. 

I was much surprised at one argument of the honorable 
gentleman. He told the house, that the constitution had 
carefully guarded against inequality, among the several 
states, in the public burthens, by certain restrictions upon 
the power of taxation; that the effect of the adoption of a 
system of internal improvements would be to draw the 
resources from one part of the union, and to expend them 
in the improvements of another; and that the spirit, at least, 
of the constitutional equality, would be thus violated. From 
the nature of things, the constitution could not specify the 
theatre of the expenditure of the public treasure. That 
expenditure, guided by and looking to the public good, 
must be made, necessarily, where it will most subserve the 
interests of the whole union. The argument is, that the 
locale of the collection of the public contributions, and the 
locale of their disbursement, should be the same. Now, sir, 
let us carry this argument out; and no man is more canable 
than the ingenious gentleman from Virginia, of tracmg an 
argument to its utmost consequences. The locale of the 
collection of the public revenue is the pocket of the citizen; 
and, to abstain from the violation of the principle of equality 
adverted to by the gentleman, we should restore back to 
each man's pocket precisely what was taken from it. If the 
principle contended for be true, we are habitually violating 
it. We raise about twenty millions of dollars, a very large 
revenue, considering the actual distresses of the country. 
And, sir, notwithstanding all the puffing, flourishing state- 
ments of its prosperity, emanating from printers who are 
fed upon the pap of the public treasury, the whole country 
is in a condition of very great distress. Where is this vast 
revenue expended? Boston, New York, the great capitals 
of the north, are the theatres of its disbursement. There the 
interest upon the public debt is paid. There the expenditure 
in the building, equipment, and repair of the national vessels 
takes place. There all the great expenditures of the govern- 
Kk 



250 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

ment . necessarily concentrate. This is no cause of just 
complaint. It is inevitable, resulting from the accumulation 
of capital, the state of the arts, and other circumstances 
belonging to our great cities. But, sir, if there be a section 
of this union having more right than any other to complain 
of this transfer of the circulating medium from one quarter 
of the union to another, the west, the poor west — [Here Mr. 
Barbour explained. He had meant that the constitution 
limited congress as to the proportions of revenue to be 
drawn from the several states; but the principle of this 
provision would be vacated by internal improvements of 
immense expense, and yet of a local character. Our public 
ships, to be sure, are built at the seaports, but they do not 
remain there. Their home is the mountain wave; but in- 
ternal improvements are essentially local; they touch the 
soil of the states, and their benefits, at least the largest part 
of them, are confined to the states where they exist.] The 
explanation of the gentleman has not materially varied the 
argument. He says that the home of our ships is the 
mountain wave. Sir, if the ships go to sea, the money with 
which they were built, or refitted, remains on shore, and 
the cities where the equipment takes place derive the benefit 
of the expenditure. It requires no stretch of the imagination 
to conceive the profitable industry — the axes, the hammers, 
the saws — the mechanic arts, which are put in motion by 
this expenditure. And all these, and other collateral advan- 
tages, are enjoyed by the seaports. The navy is built for 
the interest of the whole. Internal improvements, of that 
general, federative character, for which we contend, would 
also be for the interest of the whole. And, I should think 
their abiding with us, and not going abroad on the vast 
deep, was rather cause of recommendation than objection. 

But, Mr. Chairman, if there be any part of this union 
more likely than all others to be benefited by the adoption of 
the gentleman's principle, regulating the public expenditure, 
it is the west. There is a perpetual drain from that em- 
barrassed and highly distressed portion of our country, of 
its circulating medium to the east. There, but few and 
inconsiderable expenditures of the public money take place. 
There we have none of those public works, no magnificent 
edifices, forts, armories, arsenals, dockyards, &c. which 
more or less are to be found in every Atlantic state. In at 
least seven states beyond the Alleghany, not one solitary 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 251 

public work of this government is to be found. If, by one 
of those awful and terrible dispensations of Providence, 
which sometimes occur, this government should be unhappily 
annihilated, every where on the seaboard traces of its former 
existence would be found; whilst we should not have, in 
the west, a single monument remaining on which to pour 
out our affections and our regrets. Yet, sir, we do not 
complain. No portion of your population is more loyal to 
the union, than the hardy freemen of the west. Nothing 
can weaken or eradicate their ardent desire for its lasting 
preservation. None are more prompt to vindicate the in- 
terests and rights of the nation from all foreign aggression. 
Need I remind you of the glorious scenes in which they 
participated, during the late war — a war in which they had 
no peculiar or direct interest, waged for no commerce, no 
seamen of theirs. But it was enough for them that it was 
a war demanded by the character and the honor of the nation. 
They did not stop to calculate its cost of blood, or of trea- 
sure. They flew to arms; they rushed down the valley of 
the Mississippi, with all the impetuosity of that noble river. 
They sought the enemy. They found him at the beach. 
They fought; they bled; they covered themselves and their 
country with immortal glory. They enthusiastically shared 
in all the transports occasioned by our victories, whether 
won on the ocean or on the land. They felt, with the keenest 
distress, whatever disaster befel us. No, sir, I repeat it, 
neglect, injury itself, cannot alienate the affections of the 
west from this government. T hey cling to it, as to their 
best, their greatest, their last hope. You may impoverish 
them, reduce them to ruin, by the mistakes of your policy, 
and you cannot drive them from you. They do not complain 
of the expenditure of the public money, where the public 
exigences require its disbursement. But, I put it to your 
candour, if you ought not, by a generous and national policy, 
to mitigate, if not prevent, the evils resulting from the 
perpetual transfer of the circulating medium from the west 
to the east. One million and a half of dollars annually, is 
transferred for the public lands alone; and, almost every 
dollar goes, like him who goes to death — to a bourne from 
which no traveller returns. In ten years it will amount to 

fifteen millions; in twenty to but I will not pursue the 

appalling results of arithmetic. Gentlemen who believe that 
these vast sums are supplied by emigrants from the east. 



252 ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

labor under great error. There was a time when the tide 
of emigration from the east bore along with it the means 
to effect the purchase of the public domain. But that tide 
has, in a great measure, now stopt. And as population 
advances farther and farther west, it will entirely cease. 
The greatest migrating states in the union, at this time, are 
Kentucky first, Ohio next, and Tennesee. The emigrants 
from those states carry with them, to the states and terri- 
tories lying beyond them, the circulating, medium, which, 
being invested in the purchase of the public land, is trans- 
mitted to the points where the wants of government require 
it. If this debilitating and exhausting process were inevitable, 
it must be borne with manly fortitude. But we think that a 
fit exertion of the powers of this government would mitigate 
the evil. We believe that the government incontestibly 
possesses the constitutional power to execute such internal 
improvements as are called for by the good of the whole. 
And we appeal to your equity, to your parental regard, to 
your enlightened policy, to perform the high and beneficial 
trust thus sacredly reposed. I am sensible of the delicacy 
of the topic to which I have reluctantly adverted, in conse- 
quence of the observations of the honorable gentleman from 
Virginia. And I hope there will be no misconception of my 
motives in dwelling upon it. A wise and considerate govern- 
ment should anticipate and prevent, rather than wait for 
the operation of causes of discontent. 

Let me ask, Mr. Chairman, what has this government 
done on the great subject of internal improvements, after 
so many years of its existence, and with such an inviting 
field before it? You have made the Cumberland road, only. 
Gentlemen appear to have considered that a western road. 
Thev ought to recollect that not one stone has yet been 
broken, not one spade of earth has been yet removed in any 
western state. The road begins in Maryland and it termi- 
nates at Wheeling. It passes through the states of Maryland, 
Pennsylvania, and Virginia. All the direct benefit of the 
expenditure of the public money on that road, has accrued 
to those three states. Not one cent in any western state. 
And yet we have had to beg, entreat, supplicate you, session 
after session, to grant the necessary appropriations to com- 
plete the road. I have myself toiled until my powers have 
been exhausted and prostrated, to prevail on you to make 
the grant. We were actuated to make these exertions for 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 25S 

the sake of the collateral benefit only to the west; that we 
might have a way by which we should be able to continue 
and maintain an affectionate intercourse with our friends 
and brethren — that we might have a way to reach the capitol 
of our country, and to bring our councils, humble as they 
may be, to consult and mingle with yours in the advancement 
of the national prosperity. Yes, sir, the Cumberland road 
has only reached the margin of a western state; and, from 
some indications which have been given during this session, 
I should apprehend it would there pause forever, if my 
confidence in you were not unbounded; if I had not before 
witnessed that appeals were never unsuccessful to your 
justice, to your magnanimity, to your fraternal affection. 

But, sir, the bill on your table is no western bill. It is 
emphatically a national bill, comprehending all, looking to 
the interests of the whole. The people of the west never 
thought of, never desired, never asked, for a system exclu- 
sively for their benefit. The system contemplated by this 
bill looks to great national objects, and proposes the ultimate 
application to their accomplishment of the only means by 
which they can be effected, the means of the nation — means 
which, if they be withheld from such objects, the union, I 
do most solemnly believe, of these now happy and promising 
states, may, at some distant (I trust a far, far distant) day, 
be endangered and shaken at its centre. 



'i»'^ 



254 



ON THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 

Speech on the Greek Revolution^ delivered in the House 
of Representatives^ 20th January^ 1824. 

Mr. Clay rose, and commenced his speech by distinctly 
stating the original resolution, as moved by Mr. Webster, 
and the amendment proposed to it by Mr. Poinsett. The 
resolution proposed a provision of the means to defray the 
expense of deputing a commissioner or agent to Greece, 
whenever the president, who knows, or ought to know, the 
disposition of all the European powers, Turkish or Chris- 
tian, shall deem it proper. The amendment goes to with- 
hold any appropriation to that object, but to make a public 
declaration of our sympathy with the Greeks, and of our 
good wishes for the success of their cause. And how has 
this simple, unpretending, unambitious, this harmless pro- 
position, been treated in debate? It has been argued as if 
it offered aid to the Greeks; as if it proposed the recogni- 
tion of the independence of their government; as a mea- 
sure of unjustifiable interference in the internal affairs of a 
foreign state; and finally, as war. And they who thus argue 
the question, whilst they absolutely surrender themselves to 
the illusions of their own fervid imaginations, and depict, 
in glowing terms, the monstrous and alarming consequences 
which are to spring out of a proposition so simple, impute 
to us, who are its humble advocates, quixotism, quixotism! 
Whilst they are taking the most extravagant and boundless 
range, and arguing any thing and every thing but the ques- 
tion before the committee, they accuse us of enthusiasm, of 
giving the reins to excited feeling, of being transported by 
our imaginations. No, sir, the resolution is no proposition 
for aid, nor for recognition, nor for interference, nor for 
war. 

I know that there are some, who object to the resolution, 
on account of the source from which it has sprung — who 
except to its mover, as if its value or importance were to be 
estimated by personal considerations. I have long had the 
pleasure of knowing the honorable gentleman from Massa- 
chussetts; and sometimes that of acting with him, and I 



ON THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 355 

have much satisfaction in expressing ray high admiration of 
his great talents. But I would appeal to my republican 
friends, those faithful sentinels of civil liberty with whom 
I have ever acted, shall we reject a proposition, consonant 
to our principles, favoring the good and great cause, on ac- 
count of the political character of its mover? Shall we not 
rather look to the intrinsic merits of the measure, and seek 
every fit occasion to strengthen and perpetuate liberal prin- 
ciples and noble sentiments? If it were possible for repub- 
licans to cease to be the champions of human freedom; and 
if federalists become its only supporters, I would cease to 
be a republican; I would become a federalist. The preser- 
vation of the public confidence can only be secured, or me- 
rited, by a faithful adherence to the principles by which it 
has been acquired. 

Mr. Chairman, is it not extraordinary that for these two 
successive years the president of the United States should 
have been freely indulged, not only without censure, but 
with universal applause, to express the feelings which both 
the resolution and the amendment proclaim, and yet if this 
house venture to unite with him, the most awful consequen- 
ces are to ensue? From Maine to Georgia, from the Atlan- 
tic ocean to the gulf of Mexico, the sentiment of approba- 
tion has blazed with the rapidity of electricity. Every 
where the interest in the Grecian cause is felt with the 
deepest intensity, expressed in every form, and increases 
with every new day and passing hour. And are the repre- 
sentatives of the people alone to be insulated from the com- 
mon moral atmosphere of the whole land? Shall we shut 
ourselves up in apathy, and separate ourselves from our 
country? from our constituents? from our chief magistrate? 
from our principles? 

The measure has been most unreasonably magnified. Gen- 
tlemen speak of the watchful jealousy of the Turk, and 
seem to think that the slightest movement of this body will 
be matter of serious speculation at Constantinople. I be- 
lieve that neither the Sublime Porte, nor the European al- 
lies, attach any such exaggerated importance to the acts and 
deliberations of this body. The Turk will, in all probabili- 
ty, never hear of the names of the gentlemen who either 
espouse or oppose the resolution. It certainly is not with- 
out a value; but that value is altogether moral; it throws 
our little tribute into the vast stream of public opinion, 



256 ON THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 

which sooner or later must regulate the physical action up- 
on the great interests of the civilized world. But, rely upon 
it, the Ottoman is not about to declare war against us be- 
cause this unoffending proposition has been offered by my 
honorable friend from Massachussetts, whose name, how- 
ever distinguished and eminent he may be in our own coun- 
try, has probably never reached the ears of the Sublime 
Porte. The allied powers are not going to be thrown into a 
state of consternation, because we appropriate some two or 
three thousand dollars to send an agent to Greece. 

The question has been argued as if the Greeks would be 
exposed to still more shocking enormities by its passage; as 
if the Turkish scimitar would be rendered still keener, and 
dyed deeper and yet deeper in Christian blood. Sir, if such 
is to be the effect of the declaration of our sympathy, the 
evil has been already produced. That declaration has been 
already publicly and solemnly made by the chief magistrate 
of the United States, in two distinct messages. It is this 
document which commands at home and abroad the most 
fixed and universal attention; which is translated into all the 
foreign journals; read by sovereigns and their ministers; 
and, possibly, in the divan itself. But our resolutions are 
domestic, for home consumption, and rarely if ever meet 
imperial or royal eyes. The president, in his messages, after 
a most touching representation of the feelings excited by 
the Greek insurrection, tells you that the dominion of the 
Turk is gone forever; and that the most sanguine hope is 
entertained that Greece will achieve her independence. 
Well, sir, if this be the fact, if the allied powers themselves 
may, possibly, before we again assemble in this hall, ac- 
knowledge that independence, is it not fit and becoming in 
this house to make provision that our president shall be 
among the foremost, or at least not among the last, in that 
acknowledgment? So far from this resolution being likely 
to whet the vengeance of the Turk against his Grecian vic- 
tims, I believe its tendency will be directly the reverse. 
Sir, with all his unlimited power, and in all the elevation of 
his despotic throne, he is at last but man, made as we are, 
of flesh, of muscle, of bone and sinew. He is susceptible 
of pain, and can feel, and has felt the uncalculating valour 
of American freemen in some of his dominions. And when 
he is made to understand that the executive of this govern- 
ment is sustained by the representatives of the people; that 



ON THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 257 

our entire political fabric, base, column, and entablature, 
rulers and people, with heart, soul, mind, and strength, are 
all on the side of the gallant people whom he would crush, 
he will be more likely to restrain than to increase his attro- 
cities upon suffering and bleeding Greece. 

The gentleman from New Hampshire, (Mr. Bartlett,) 
has made, on this occasion, a very ingenious, sensible, and 
ironical speech — an admirable debut for a new member, and 
such as I hope we shall often have repeated on this floor. 
But, permit me to advise my young friend to remember the 
maxim, " that sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof;'* 
and when the resolution,* on another subject, which I had 
the honour to submit, shall come up to be discussed, I hope 
he will not content himself with saying, as he has now done, 
that it is a very extraordinary one; but that he will then fa- 
vour the house with an argumentative speech, proving that 
it is our duty quietly to see laid prostrate every fortress of 
human hope, and to behold, with indifference, the last out- 
work of liberty taken and destroyed. 

It has been said, that the proposed measure will be a de- 
parture from our uniform policy with respect to foreign na- 
tions; that it will provoke the wrath of the holy alliance; 
and that it will, in effect, be a repetition of their own of- 
fence, by an unjustifiable interposition in the domLStic con- 
cerns of other powers. No, sir, not even if it authorized, 
which it does not, an immediate recognition of Grecian in- 
dependence. What has been the settled and steady policy 
and practice of this government, from the days of Wash- 
ington, to the present moment? In the case of France, the 
father of his country and his successors received Genet, 
Fouchet, and all the French ministers who followed them, 
whether sent from king, convention, anarchy, emperor, or 
king again. The rule we have ever followed has been this: 
to look at the state of the fact, and to recognize that gov- 
ernment, be it what it might, which was in actual posses- 
sion of sovereign power. When one government is over- 
thrown, and another is established on its ruins, without em- 
barrassing ourselves with any of the principles involved in 
the contest, we have ever acknowledged the new and actual 
government as soon as it had undisputed existence. Our sim- 

*The resolution offered by Mr. Clay, declaring that the United States 
would not see with indifference any interference of the holy alliance in 
behalf of Spain against the new American republics. 
LI 



258 ON THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 

pie inquiry has been, is there a government de facto? We 
have had a recent and memorable example. When the allied 
ministers retired from Madrid, and refused to accompany 
Ferdinand to Cadiz, ours remained, and we sent out a new 
minister, who sought at that port to present himself to the 
constitutional king. VVhy? Because it was the government 
of Spain, in fact. Did the allies declare war against us for 
the exercise of this incontestible attribute of sovereignty? 
Did they even transmit any diplomatic note, complainmg of 
our conduct? The line of our European policy has been so 
plainly described that it is impossible to mistake it. We are 
to abstain from all interference in their disputes, to take no 
part in their contests, to make no entangling alliances with 
any of them; but to assert and exercise our indisputable 
right of opening and maintaining diplomatic intercourse 
with any actual sovereignty. 

There is reason to apprehend that a tremendous storm is 
ready to burst upon our happy country — one which may call 
into action all our vigour, courage, and resources. Is it 
wise or prudent, in preparing to breast the storm, if it must 
come, to talk to this nation of its incompetency to repel 
European aggression, to lower its spirit, to weaken its mo- 
ral energy, and to qualify it for easy conquest and base sub- 
mission? If there be any reality in the dangers which are 
supposed to encompass us, should we not animate the peo- 
ple, and adjure them to believe, as I do, that our resources 
are ample; and that we can bring into the field a million of 
freemen ready to exhaust their last drop of blood, and to 
spend the last cent in the defence of the country, its liber- 
ty, and its institutions? Sir, are these, if united, to be con- 
quered by all Europe combined? All the perils to which we 
can be possibly exposed, are much less in reality than the 
imagination is disposed to paint them. And they are best 
averted by an habitual contemplation of them, by reducing 
them to their true dimensions. If combined Europe is to 
precipitate itself upon us, we cannot too soon begin to in- 
vigorate our strength, to teach our heads to think, our hearts 
to conceive, and our arms to execute, the high and noble 
deeds which belong to the character and glory of our coun- 
try. The experience of the world instructs us, that conquests 
are already achieved, which are boldly and firmly resolved 
on; and that men only become slaves who have ceased to 
resolve to be free. If we wish to cover ourselves with the 



ON THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 259 

best of all armour, let us not discourage our people, let us 
stimulate their ardour, let us sustain their resolution, let us 
proclaim to them that we feel as they feel, and that, with 
them, wc are determined to live or die like freemen. 

Surely, sir, we need no long or learned lectures about the 
nature of government, and the influence of property or 
ranks on society. We may content ourselves witli studying 
the true character of our own people; and with knowing 
that the interests are confided to us of a nation capable of 
doing and suffering all things for its liberty. Such a nation, 
if its rulers be faithful, must be invincible. I well remem- 
ber an observation made to me by the most illustrious fe- 
male* of the age, if not of her sex. All history showed, 
she said, that a nation was never conquered. No, sir, no 
united nation that resolves to be free, can be conquered. 
And has it come to this? Are we so humbled, so low, so 
debased, that we dare not express our sympathy for suffer- ; 
ing Greece, that we dare not articulate our detestation of 
the brutal excesses of which she has been the bleeding vic- 
tim, lest we might offend some one or more of their impe- 
rial and royal majesties? If gentlemen are afraid to act rash- 
ly on such a subject, suppose, Mr. Chairman, that we unite 
in an humble petition, addressed to their majesties, beseech- 
ing them that of their gracious condescension, they would 
allow us to express our feelings and our sympathies. How 
shall it run: " We, the representatives of the free people of 
the United States of America, humbly approach the thrones 
of your imperial and royal majesties, and supplicate, that of 
your imperial and royal clemency," — I cannot go through 
the disgusting recital — my lips have not yet learnt to pro- 
nounce the sycophantic language of a degraded slave! Are 
■we so mean, so base, so despicable, that we may not attempt 
to express our horror, utter our indignation, at the most 
brutal and attrocious war that ever stained earth or shocked 
high Heaven, at the ferocious deeds of a savage and infuri- 
ated soldiery, stimulated and urged on by the clergy of a 
fanatical and inimical religion, and rioting in all the exces- 
ses of blood and butchery, at the mere details of which the 
heart sickens and recoils! 

If the great body of Christendom can look on calmly and 
coolly, whilst all this is perpetrated on a Christian people, 
in its own immediate vicinity, in its very presence, let us at 

* Mad, de Stael . 



260. ON THE GREEK REVOLUTION, 

least evince that one of its remote extremities is susceptible 
of sensibility to Christian wrongs, and capable of sympa- 
thy for Christian sufferings; that, in this remote quarter of 
the world, there are hearts not yet closed against compas- 
sion for human woes, that can pour out their indignant feel- 
ings at the oppression of a people endeared to us by every 
ancient recollection, and every modern tie. Sir, the com- 
mittee has been attempted to be alarmed by the dangers to 
our commerce in the Mediterranean; and a wretched invoice 
of figs and opium has been spread before us to repress our 
sensibilities and to eradicate our humanity. Ah! sir, " what 
shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his 
own soul," or what shall it avail a nation to save the whole 
of a miserable trade and lose its liberties? 

On the subject of the other independent American states, 
hitherto it has not been necessary to depart from the rule 
of our foreign relations, observed in regard to Europe, 
Whether it will become us to do so or not, will be consid- 
ered when we take up another resolution, lying on the ta- 
ble. But we may not only adopt this measure; we may go 
further^- we may recognize the government in the Morea, 
if actually independent, and it will be neither war, nor cause 
of war, nor any violation of our neutrality. Besides, sir, 
what is Greece to the allies? A part of the dominions of 
any of them? By no means. Suppose the people in one of 
the Philippine isles, or in any other spot still more insulat- 
ed and remote, in Asia or Africa, were to resist their for- 
mer rulers, and set up and establish a new government, are 
we not to recognize them in dread of the holy allies? If they 
are going to interfere, from the danger of the contagion 
of the example, here is the spot, our own favored land, 
where they must strike. This government, you, Mr. Chair- 
man, and the body over which you preside, are the living 
and cutting reproach to allied despotism. If we are to of- 
fend them, it is not by passing this resolution. We are dai- 
ly and hourly giving them cause of war. It is here^ and in 
our free institutions, that they will assail us. They will at- 
tack us because you sit beneath that canopy, and we are 
freely debating and deliberating upon the great interests of 
free men, and dispensing the blessings of free government. 
They will strike, because we pass one of those bills on vour 
table. The passage of the least of them, by our free autho- 
rity, is more galling to despotic powers, than would be the 



ON THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 261 

adoption of this so much dreaded resolution. Pass it, and 
what do you? You exercise an indisputable attribute of 
sovereignty, for which you are responsible to none of them. 
You do the same when you perform any other legislative 
function; no less. If the allies object to this measure, let 
them forbid us to take a vote in this house; let them strip 
us of every attribute of independent government; let them 
disperse us. 

Will gentlemen attempt to maintain that, on the princi- 
ples of the law of nations, those allies would have cause of 
war? If there be any principle which has been settled for 
ages, any which is founded in the very nature of things, it 
is that every independent state has the clear right to judge 
of the fact of the existence of other sovereign powers. I 
admit that there may be a state of inchoate initiative sove- 
reignty, in which a new government, just struggling into 
being, cannot be said yet perfectly to exist. But the prema- 
ture recognition of such new government, can give offence 
justly to no other than its ancient sovereign. The right of 
recognition comprehends the right to be informed; and the 
means of information must, of necessity, depend upon the 
sound discretion of the party seeking it. You may send out 
a commission of inquiry, and charge it with a provident at- 
tention to your own pt- ople and your own interests. Such 
will be the character of the proposed agency. It will not 
necessarily follow that any public functionary will be ap- 
pointed by the president. You merely grant the means by 
which the executive may act when he thinks proper. What 
does he tell you in his message? That Greece is contending 
for her independence; that all sympathize with her; and that 
no power has declared against her. Pass this resolution, 
and what is the reply which it conveys to him? " You have 
sent us grateful intelligence; we feel warmly for Greece; 
and we grant you money, that, when you shall think it pro- 
per, when the interests of this nation shall not be jeopar- 
dized, you may depute a commissioner or public agent to 
Greece." The whole responsibility is then left where the 
constitution puts it. A member in his place may make a 
speech or proposition, the house may even pass a vote, in 
respect to our foreign affairs, which the president, with the 
whole field lying full before him, would not deem it expedi- 
ent to effectuate. 

But, sir, it is not for Greece alone that I desire to see 



262 ON THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 

this measure adopted. It will give to her but little support, 
and that purely of a moral kind. It is principally for Ame- 
rica, for the credit and character of our common country, 
for our own unsullied name, that I hope to see it pass. 
"What, Mr. Chairman, appearance on the page of history, 
would a record like this exhibit? " In the month of Janua- 
ry, in the year of our Lord and Saviour, 1824, while all 
European Christendom beheld, with cold and unfeeling in- 
difference, the unexampled wrongs and inexpressible mise- 
ry of Christian Greece, a proposition was made in the con- 
gress of the United States, almost the sole, the last, the 
greatest depositvny of human hope and human freedom, the 
representatives of a gallant nation, containing a million of 
freemen ready to fly to arms, while the people of that na- 
tion were spontaneously expressing its deep-toned feeling, 
and the whole continent, by one simultaneous emotion, was 
rising and solemnly and anxiously supplicating and invok- 
ing high Heaven to spare and succour Greece, and to invi- 
gorate her arms, in her glorious cause, while temples and 
senate houses were alike resounding with one burst of gene- 
rous and holy sympathy; — in the year of our Lord and Sa- 
viour, that Saviour of Greece and of us — a proposition was 
offered in the American congress to send a messenger to 
Greece, to inquire into her state and condition, with a kind 
expression of our good wishes and our sympathies — and it 
was rejected!" Go home, if vou can, go home, if you dare, 
to your constituents, and tell them that you voted it down 
— meet, if you can, the appalling countenances of those 
who sent you here, and tell them that you shrank from the 
declaration of your own sentiments — that you cannot tell 
how, but that some unknown dread, some indiscribable ap- 
prehension, some indefinable danger, drove you from your 
purpose — that the spectres of scimitars, and crowns, and 
crescents, gleamed before you, and alarmed you; and that 
you suppressed all the noble feelings prompted by religion, 
by liberty, by national independence, and by humanity. I 
cannot bring myself to believe that such will be the feeling 
of a majority of this committee. But, for myself, though 
every friend of the cause should desert it, and I be left to 
stand alone with the gentleman from Massachusetts, I will 
give to his resolution the poor sanction of my unqualified 
approbation. 



263 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

Sptech in support of an American System for the Protection 
of American Industry; delivered in the House of Repre- 
sentatives on the oOth and 31st of March ^ 1824. 

The gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. Barbour,) has em- 
braced the occasion produced by the proposition of the 
gentleman from Tennessee, to strike out the mmimum price, 
in the bill, on cotton fabrics, to express his sentiments at 
large on the policy of the pending measure; and it is scarcely 
necessary for me to say that he has evinced his usual good 
temper, ability, and decorum. The parts of the bill are so 
intermingled and interwoven together, that there can be no 
doubt of the fitness of this occasion to exhibit its merits or 
its defects. It is my intention, with the permission of the 
committee, to avail myself also of this opportunity, to pre- 
sent to its consideration those general views, as they appear 
to me, of the true policy of this country, which imperiously 
demand the passage of this bill. I am deeply sensible, Mr. 
Chairman, of the high responsibility of my present situa- 
tion. But that responsibility inspires me with no other ap- 
prehension than that I shall be unable to fulfil my duty; 
with no other solicitude than that I may, at least, in some 
small degree, contribute to recall my country from the pur- 
suit of a fatal policy, which appears to me inevitably to lead 
to its impoverishment and ruin. I do feel most awfully this 
responsibility. And, if it were allowable for us, at the pre- 
sent day, to imitate ancient examples, I would invoke the 
aid of the Most High. I would anxiously and fervently 
implore His Divine assistance; that He would be graciously 
pleased to shower on my country His richest blessings; and 
that he would sustain, on this interesting occasion, the hum- 
ble individual who stands before Him, and lend him the 
power, moral and physical, to perform the solemn duties 
which now belong to his public station. 

Two classes of politicians divide the people of the United 
States. According to the system of one, the produce of 
foreign industry should be subjected to no other impost 



264 ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

than such as may be necessary to provide a public revenue; 
and the produce of American industry should be left to 
sustain itself, if it can, with no other than that incidental 
protection, in its competition, at home as well as abroad, 
with rival foreign articles. According to the system of the 
other class, whilst they agree that the imposts should be 
mainly, and may, under any modification, be safely relied 
on as a fit and convenient source of public revenue, they 
would so adjust and arrange the duties on foreign fabrics as 
to afford a gradual but adequate protection to American in- 
dustry, and lessen our dependence on foreign nations, by se- 
curing a certain and ultimately a cheaper and better supply 
of our own wants from our own abundant resources. Both 
classes are equally sincere in their respective opinions, 
equally honest, equally patriotic, and desirous of advancing 
the prosperity of the country. In the discussion and con- 
sideration of these opposite opinions, for the purpose of 
ascertaining which has the support of truth and reason, we 
should, therefore, exercise every indulgence, and the great- 
est spirit of mutual moderation and forbearance. And, in 
our deliberations on this great question, we should look fear- 
lessly and truly at the actual condition of the country, re- 
trace the causes which have brought us into it, and snatch, 
if possible, a view of the future. We should, above all, con- 
sult experience — the experience of other nations, as well as 
our own, as our truest and most unerring guide. 

In casting our eyes around us, the most prominent cir- 
cumstance which fixes our attention, and challenges our 
deepest regret, is the general distress which pervades the 
whole country. It is forced upon us by numerous facts of 
the most incontestible character. It is indicated by the di- 
minished exports of native produce; by the depressed and 
reduced state of our foreign navigation; by our diminished 
commerce; by successive unthrashed crops of grain, perish- 
ing in our barns and barn-yards for the want of a market; 
by the alarming diminution of the circulating medium; 
by the numerous bankruptcies, not limited to the trading 
classes, but extending to all orders of society; by an univer- 
sal complaint of the want of employment, and a consequent 
reduction of the wages of labour; by the ravenous pursuit 
after public situations, not for the sake of their honors and 
the performance of their public duties, but as a means of 
private subsistence; by the reluctant resort to the peri- 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 265 

lous use of paper money; by the intervention of legislation* 
in the delicate relation between debtor and creditor; and,; 
above all, by the low and depressed state of the value of, 
almost every description of the whole mass of the property* 
of the nation, which has, on an average, sunk not less than \ 
about fifty per centum within a few years. This distress \ 
pervades every part of the union, every class of society; all \ 
feel it, though it may be felt, at different places, in different I 
degrees. It is like the atmosphere which surrounds us — all ? 
must Inhale it, and none can escape it. In some places it i 
has burst upon our people, without a single mitigating cir- \ 
cumstance to temper its severity. In others, more fortunate, 1 
slight alleviations have been experienced in the expenditure | 
of the public revenue, and in other favoring causes. A few | 
years ago, the planting interest consoled itself with its hap- j 
py exemptions, but it has now reached this interest also, I 
which experiences, though with less severity, the general f 
suffering. It is most painful to me to attempt to sketch or to / 
dwell on the gloom of this picture. But I have exaggerated I 
nothing. Perfect fidelity to the original would have autho- \ 
rised me to have thrown on deeper and darker hues. And 
it is the duty of the statesman, no less than that of the phy- 
sician, to survey, with a penetrating, steady and undismayed 
eye, the actual condition of the subject on which he would 
operate; to probe to the bottom the diseases of the body po- 
litic, if he would apply efficacious remedies. We have not, 
thank God, suffered in any great degree for food. But dis- 
tress, resulting from the absence of a supply of the mere phy- 
sical wants of our nature, is not the only, nor, perhaps, the 
keenest distress, to which we may be exposed. Moral and 
pecuniary suffering is, if possible, more poignant. It plunges 
its victim into hopeless despair. It poisons, it paralyses, the 
spring and source of all useful exertion. Its unsparing 
action is collateral as well as direct. It falls with inexora- 
ble force at the same time upon the wretched family of 
embarrassment and insolvency, and upon its head. They 
are a faithful mirror, reflecting back upon him, at once, his 
own frightful image, and that, no less appalling, of the 
dearest objects of his affection. What is the cause of this 
wide- spreading distress, of this deep depression, which we 
behold stamped on the public countenance? We are the. 
same people. We have the same country. We cannot ar- 
raign the bounty of Providence. The showers still fall in 
Mm' 



266 ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

the same grateful abundance. The sun still casts his genial 
and vivifying influence upon the land; and the land, fertile 
anil diversified in its soils as ever, yields to the industrious 
cultivator, in boundless profusion, its accustomed fruits, its 
richest treasures. Our vigor is unimpaired. Our industry 
has not relaxed. If ever the accusation of wasteful extrava- 
gance could be made against our people, it cannot now be 
justly preferred. They, on the contrary, for the few last 
years, at least, have been practising the most rigid economy. 
The causes, then, of our present affliction, whatever they may 
be, are human causes, and human causes not chargeable 
upon the people in their private and individual relations. 

What, again I would ask, is the cause of the unhappy 
condition of our country, which I have faintly depicted? 
It is to be found in the fact that, during almost the whole 
existence of this government, we have shaped our indus- 
try, our navigation, and our commerce, in reference to an 
extraordinary vvar in Europe, and to foreign markets, which 
no longer exist; in the fact that we have depended too much 
iipon foreign sources of supply, and excited too little the 
native; in the fact that, whilst we have cultivated, with as- 
siduous care-, our foreign resources, we have suffered those 
at home to wither, in a state of neglect and abandonment. 
The consequence of the termination of the war of Europe, 
has been the resumption of European commerce, European 
navigation, and the extension of European agriculture and 
European industry, in all its branches. Europe, therefore, 
has no longer occasion, to any thing like the same extent, 
as that she had during her wars, for American commerce, 
American navigation, the produce of American industry, 
Europe, in commotion and convulsed throughout all her 
members, is to America no longer the same Europe as she 
is now, tranquil, and watching with the most vigilant atten- 
tion all her own peculiar interests, without regard to the 
operation of her policy upon us. The effVct of this altered 
state of Europe upon us, has been to circumscribe the em- 
ployment of our marine, and greatly to reduce the value of 
the produce of our territorial labour. The further effect of 
this twofold reduction has been to decrease the value of 
all property, whether on the land or on the ocean, and which 
I suppose to be about fifty per centum. And the still fur- 
ther effect has been to diminish the amount of our circu- 
lating medium, in a proportion not less, by its transmission 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 267 

abroad, or Its withdrawal by the banking institutions, from 
a necessity which they could not control. The quantity of 
money, in whatever form it may be, whicK a nation wants 
is in proportion to the total mass of its wealth, and to the 
activity of that wealth. A nation that has but little wealth, 
has but a limited want of money. In stating the fact, there- 
fore, that the total wealth ot the country has diminished, 
within a few years, in a ratio of about fifty per centum, we 
shall, at once, fully comprehend the inevitable reduction, 
which must have ensued, in the total quantity of the circu- 
lating medium of the country. A nation is most prosperous 
when there is a gradual and untempting addition to the 
aggregate of its circulating medium. It is in a condition 
the most adverse, when there is a rapid diminution in the 
quantity of the circulating medium, and a consequent de- 
pression in the value of property. In the former case, the 
wealth of individuals insensibly increases, and income keeps 
ahead of expenditure. But, in the latter instance, debts have 
been contracted, engagements made, and habits of expense 
established, in reference to the existing state of weahh and 
of its representative. When these come to be greatly re- 
duced, individuals find their debts still existing, their en- 
gagements unexecuted, and their habits inveterate. They 
see themselves in the possession of the same property, on 
which, in good faith, they had bound themselves. — But 
that property, without their fault, possesses no longer the 
same value; and hence discontent, impoverishment, and 
ruin arise. Let- us suppose, Mr. Chairman, that Europe 
was again the theatre of such a general war as recently raged 
throughout all her dominions — such a state of the war as 
existed in her greatest exertions and in our greatest pros- 
perity: instantly there would arise a greedy demand for the 
surplus produce of our industry, for our commerce, for our 
navigation. The languor which now prevails in our cities, 
and in our sea-ports, would give way to an animated ac- 
tivity. Our roads and rivers would be crowded with the 
produce of the interior. Every where we should witness 
excited industry. The precious metals would re-flow from 
abroad upon us. Banks, which have maintained their credit, 
would revive their business; and new banks would be esta- 
blished, to take the place of those which have sunk beneath 
the general pressure. For it is a mistake to suppose that 
they have produced our present adversity; they may have 



268 ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

somewhat aggravated it, but they were the effect and the 
evidence of our prosperity. Prices would again get up; the 
former value of property would be restored. And those 
embarrassed persons who have not been already over- 
whelmed by the times, would suddenly find, in the aug- 
mented value of their property, and the renewal of their 
business, ample means to extricate themselves from all their 
difficulties. The greatest want of civilized society is a mar- 
ket for the sale and exchange of the surplus of the produce 
of the labor of its members. This market may exist at home 
or abroad, or both; but it must exist somewhere, if society 
prospers; and wherever it does exist, it should be compe- 
tent to the absorption of the entire surplus of production. 
It is most desirable that there should be both a home and 
a foreign market. But, with respect to their relative supe- 
riority, I cannot entertain a doubt. The home market is 
first in order, and paramount in importance. The object of 
the bill, under consideration, is to create this home market, 
and to lay the foundations of a genuine American policy. 
It is oppposed; and it is incumbent upon the partisans of 
the foreign policy (terms which I shall use without any in- 
vidious intent,) to demonstrate that the foreign market is 
an adequate vent for the surplus produce of our labor. But 
is it so? 1. Foreign nations cannot, if they would, take our 
surplus produce. If the source of supply, no matter of what, 
increases in a greater ratio than the demand for that supply, 
a glut of the market is inevitable, even if we suppose both 
to remain perfectly unobstructed. The duplication of our 
population takes place in terms of about twenty-five years. 
The term will be more and more extended as our numbers 
multiply. But it will be a sufficient approximation to assume 
this ratio for the present. We increase, therefore, in popu- 
lation, at the rate of about four per centum per annum. Sup- 
posing the increase of our production to be in the same ratio, 
we should, every succeeding year, have of surplus produce, 
four per centum more than that of the preceding year, with- 
out taking into the account the differences of seasons which 
neutralize each other. If, therefore, we are to rely upon 
the foreign market exclusively, foreign consumption ought 
to be shown to be increasing in the same ratio of four per 
centum per annum, if it be an adequate vent for our surplus 
produce. But, as I have supposed the measure of our in- 
creasing production to be furnished by that of our increas- 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 26'9 

ing population, so the measure of their power of consump- 
tion must be determined by that of the increase of their 
population. Now, the total foreign population, who consume 
our surplus produce, upon an average, do not double their 
aggregate number in a shorter term than that of about one 
hundred years. Our powers of production increase then in 
a ratio four times greater than their powers of consumption. 
And hence their utter inability to receive from us our sur- 
plus produce. 

But, 2dly. If they could, they will not. The policy of 
all Europe is adverse to the reception of our agricultural 
produce, so far as it comes into collision with its own; and 
under that limitation we are absolutely forbid to enter their 
ports, except under ciixumstances which deprive them of 
all value as a steady market. The policy of all Europe re- 
jects those great staples of our country, which consist of 
objects of human subsistence. The policy of all Europe 
refuses to receive from us any thing but those raw mate- 
rials of smaller value, essential to their manufactures, to 
which they can give a higher value, with the exception of 
tobacco and rice, which they cannot produce. Even Great 
Britain, to which we are its best customer, and from which 
we receive nearly one half in value of cur whole imports, 
will not take from us articles of subsistence produced in 
our country cheaper than can be produced in Great Britain. 
In adopting this exclusive policy, the states of Europe do 
not inquire what is best for us, but what suits themselves 
respectively; they do not take jurisdiction of the question of 
our interests, but limit the object of their legislation to that 
of the conservation of their own peculiar interests, leaving 
us free to prosecute ours as we please. They do not guide 
themselves by that romantic philanthropy, which we see 
displayed here, and which invokes us to continue to pur- 
chase the produce of foreign industry, without regard to the 
state or prosperity of our own, that foreigners may be 
pleased to purchase the few remaining articles of ours, 
which their restricted policy has not yet absolutely ex- 
cluded from their consumption. What sort of a figure 
would a member of the British parliament have made; what 
sort of a reception would his opposition have obtained, if 
he had remonstrated against the passage of the corn law, 
by which British consumption is limited to the bread-stuffs 
af British production, to the entire exclusion of American, 



270 ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

and stated that America could not and would not buy Bri- 
tish manufactures, if Britain did not buy American flour? 
Both the inability and the policy of foreign powers, then, 
forbid us to rely upon the foreign market as being an ade- 
quate vent for the surplus produce of American labor. Now 
let us see if this general reasoning is not fortified and con- 
firmed by the actual experience of this country. If the fo- 
reign market may be safely relied upon, as furnishing au 
adequate demand for our surplus produce, then the official 
documents will show a progressive increase, from year to 
year, in the exports of our native produce, in a proportion 
equal to that which I have suggested. If, on the contrary, 
we shall find from them that, for a long term of past years, 
some of our most valuable staples have retrograded, some 
remained stationary, and others advanced but little, if any, 
in amount, with the exception of cotton, the deductions of 
reason and the lessons of experience will alike command 
us to withdraw our confidence in the competency of the 
foreign market. I'he total amount of all our exports of do- 
mestic produce for the year, beginning in 1 7U5, and ending 
on the thirtieth September, 1796, was forty millions seven 
hundred and sixty-four thousand and ninety-seven. Esti- 
mating the increase according to the ratio of the increase 
of our population, that is, at four per centum per annum, 
the amount of the exports of the same produce, in the year 
ending on the thirtieth September last, ought to have been 
eighty-five millions four hundred and twenty thousand eight 
hundred and sixty-one. It was in fact only forty-seven mil- 
lions one hundred and fifty-five thousand four hundred and 
eight. Taking the average of five years, from 1803 to 
1807, inclusive, the amount of native produce exported was 
forty-three millions two hundred and two thousand seven 
hundred and fifty-one for each of those years. Estimating 
what it ought to have been, during the last year, applying 
the principle suggested to that amount, there should have 
been exported seventy-seven millions seven hundred and 
sixty-six thousand seven hundred and fifty-one instead of 
forty-seven millions one hundred and fifty-five thousand 
four hundred and eight. If these comparative amounts of 
the aggregate actual exports and what they ought to have 
been, be discouraging, we shall find, on descending into 
particulars, still less cause of satisfaction. The export of 
tobacco in 1791 was one hundred and twelve thousand four 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 271 

hundred and twenty-eight hogsheads. That was the year 
of the largest exportation of that article; but it is the only 
instance in which I have selected the maximum of expor- 
tation. The amount of what we ought to have exported 
last year, estimated according to the scale of increase 
which I have used, is two hundred and sixty-six thousand 
three hundred and thirty-two hogsheads. The actual ex- 
port was ninety-nine thousand and nine hogsheads. We 
exported in 1803 the quantity of one million three hundred 
and eleven thousand eight hundred and fifty-three barrels 
of flour; and ought to have exported last year two millions 
three hundred and sixty-one thousand three hundred and 
thirty-three barrels. We, in fact, exported only seven hun- 
dred and fifty-six thousand seven hundred and two bar- 
rels. Of that quantity we sent to South America one 
hundred and fifty thousand barrels, according to a state- 
ment furnished me by the diligence of a friend near me, 
fMr. Poinsett,) to whose valuable mass of accurate infor- 
mation, in regard to that interesting quarter cf the world, 
I have had occasion frequently to apply. But that demand 
is temporary, growing out of the existing state of war. 
Whenever peace is restored to it, and I now hope that the 
day is not distant when its independence will be generally 
acknowledged, there cannot be a doubt that it will supply its 
own consumption. In all parts of it the soil, either from 
climate or from elevation, is well adapted to the culture of 
wheat; and no where can better wheat be produced than in 
some portions of Mexico and Chili. Still the market of 
South America is one which, on other accounts, deserves 
the greatest consideration. And I congratulate you, the 
committee, and the country, on the recent adoption of a 
more auspicious policy towards it. 

We exported, in 1803, Indian corn to the amount of 
two millions seventy-four thousand six hundred and eight 
bushels. The quantity should have been, in 1823, three 
millions seven hundred and thirty- four thousand two hun- 
dred and eighty-eight bushels. The actual quantity export- 
ed was seven hundred and forty-nine thousand and thirty- 
four bushels, or about one-fifth of what it should have 
been, and a little more than one-third of what it was more 
than twenty years ago. We ought not then to be surprised 
at the extreme depression of the price of that article, of 
which I have heard my honorable friend, (i\Ir. Bassett,) 
complain, nor of the distress of the corn-growing districts 



^72 ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

adjacent to the Chesapeake Bay. We exported seventy-se- 
ven thousand nine hundred and thirty-four barrels of beef 
in 1803, and last year but sixty-one thousand four hun- 
dred and eighteen, instead of one hundred and forty thou- 
sand two hundred and seventy-four barrels. In the same 
year, (1803,) we exported ninety -six thousand six hundred 
and two barrels of pork, and last year fifty-five thousand 
five hundred and twenty-nine, instead of one hundred and 
seventy-three thousand eight hundred and eighty-two bar- 
rels. Rice has not advanced, by any means, in the propor- 
tion which it ought to have done. All the small articles, 
such as cheese, butter, candles, &c. too minute to detail, 
but important in their aggregate, have also materially di- 
minished. Cotton alone has advanced. But, whilst the 
quantity of it is augmented, its actual value is considerably 
diminished. The total quantity last year exceeded that 
of the preceding year by near thirty millions of pounds. 
And yet the total value of the year of smaller exportation, 
exceeded that of the last year by upwards of three and a 
half millions of dollars. If this article, the capacity of our 
country to produce which was scarcely known in 1790, wei*e 
subtracted from the mass of our exports, the value of the 
residue would only be a little upwards of twenty-seven mil- 
lions during the last year. The distribution of the articles 
of our exports throughout the United States, cannot fail to 
fix the attention of the committee. Of the forty-seven mil- 
lions one hundred and fifty-five thousand four hundred and 
eight, to which they amounted last year, three articles alone, 
(cotton, rice, and tobacco, J composed together twenty-eight 
millions five hundred and forty- nine thousand one hundred 
and seventy -seven. Now these articles are chiefly produced 
to the south. And if we estimate that portion of our popu- 
lation who are actually engaged in their culture, it would 
probably not exceed two millions. Thus, then, less than 
one-fifth of the whole population of the United States pro- 
duced upwards of one-half, nearly two-thirds, of the entire 
value of the exports of the last year. 

Is this foreign market, so incompetent at present, and 
which, limited as its demands are, operates so unequally 
upon the productive labor of our country, likely to improve 
in future? If I am correct in the views which I have pre- 
sented to the committee, it must become worse and worse. 
What can improve it? Europe will not abandon her own 
agriculture to foster ours. We may even anticipate that she 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 273 

will more and more enter into competition with us in the 
supply of the West India market. That of South Ame- 
rica, for articles of subsistence, will probably soon vanish. 
The value of our exports, for the future, may lemain at 
about what it was last year. But, if we do not create 
some new market; if we persevere in the existing pursuits 
of agriculture, the inevitable consequence must be, to aug- 
ment greatly the quantity of our produce, and to lessen its 
value in the foreign market. Can there be a doubt on this 
point? Take the article of cotton, for example, which is al- 
most the only article that now remunerates labor and capital. 
A certain description of labor is powerfully attracted towards 
the cotton growing country. The cultivation will be greatly 
extended, the aggregate amount, annually produced, will be 
vastly augmented. The price will fall. The more unfavora- 
ble soils will then be gradually abandoned. And I have no 
doubt that, in a few years, it will cease to be profitably pro- 
duced, any where north of the thirty-fourth degree of lati- 
tude. But, in the mean time, large numbers of the cotton- 
growers will suffer the greatest distress. And whilst this 
distress is brought upon our own country, foreign industry 
will be stimulated by the very cause which occasions our 
distress. For, by surcharging the markets abroad, the price 
'of the raw material being reduced, the manufacturer will be 
able to supply cotton fabrics cheaper; and the consumption, 
in his own country, and in foreign nations, other than ours, 
(where the value of the import must be limited to the value 
of the export, which I have supposed to remain the same,) 
being proportionally extended, there will be, consequently, 
an increased demand for the produce of his industry. 

Our agricultural is our greatest interest. It ought ever to 
be predominant. All others should bend to it. And, in con- 
sidering what is for its advantage, we should contemplate it in 
all its varieties, of planting, farming, and grazing. Can we do 
nothing to invigorate it; nothing to correct the errors of the 
past, and to brighten the still more unpromising prospects 
which lie before us? We have seen, I think, the causes of 
the distresses of the country. We have seen, that an exclu- 
sive dependence upon the foreign market must lead to still 
severer distress, to impoverishment, to ruin. We must then 
change somewhat our course. We must give a new direc- 
tion to some portion of our industry. We must speedily 
adopt a genuine American policy. Still cherishing the fo- 
Nn 



274 ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

reign market, let us create also a home market, to give 
further scope to the consumption of the produce of Ameri- 
can industry. Let us counteract the policy of foreigners, and 
withdraw the support which we now give to their industry, 
and stimulate that of our own country. It should be a pro- 
minent object with wise legislators, to multiply the voca- 
tions and extend the business of society, as far as it can be 
done, by the protection of our interests at home, against the 
injurious effects of foreign legislation. Suppose we were a 
nation of fishermen, or of skippers, to the exclusion of every 
other occupation, and the legislature had the power to in- 
troduce the pursuits of agriculture and manufactures, would 
not our happiness be promoted by an exertion of its autho- 
rity? All the existing employments of society — the learned 
professions — commerce — agriculture, are now overflowing. 
"We stand in each other's way. Hence the want of employ- 
ment. Hence the eager pursuit after public stations, which 
I have before glanced at. I have been again and again 
shocked, during this session, by instances of solicitation for 
places, before the vacancies existed. The pulse of incum- 
bents, who happened to be taken ill, is not marked with 
more anxiety by the attending physicians, than by those who 
desire to succeed them, though with very opposite feelings. 
Our old friend, the faithful sentinel, who has stood so long 
at our door, and the gallantry of whose patriotism deserves 
to be noticed, because it was displayed when that virtue 
was most rare and most wanted, on a memorable occasion 
in this unfortunate city, became indisposed some weeks ago. 
The first intelligence which I had of his dangerous illness, 
was by an application for his unvacated place. I hastened to 
assure myself of the extent of his danger, and was happy to 
find that the eagerness of succession outstripped the progress 
of disease. By creating a new and extensive business, then, 
we should not only give employment to those who want it, 
and augment the sum of national wealth, by all that this 
new business would create, but we should meliorate the 
condition of those who are now engaged in existing employ- 
ments. In Europe, particularly in Great Britain, their large 
standing armies, large navies, large even on their peace ar- 
rangement, their established church, afford to their popula- 
tion employments, which, in that respect, the happier con- 
stitution of our government does not tolerate but in a very 
limited degree. The peace establishments of our army and 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 275 

jur navy, are extremely small, and I hope ever will be. We 
have no established church, and I trust never shall have. 
In proportion as the enterprise of our citizens, in public 
employments, is circumscribed, should we excite and invi- 
gorate it in private pursuits. 

The creation of a home market is not only necessary to 
procure for our agriculture a just reward of its labors, but 
it is indispensable to obtain a supply of our necessary wants. 
If we cannot sell, we cannot buy. That portion of our po- 
pulation, (and we have seen that it is not less than four- 
fifths,) which makes comparatively nothing that foreigners 
will buy, has nothing to make purchases with from foreign- 
ers. It^is in vain that we are told of the amount of our 
exports supplied by the planting interest. They may enable 
the planting interest to supply all its wants: but they bring 
no ability to the interests not planting; unless, which can- 
not be pretended, the planting interest was an adequate vent 
for the surplus produce of the labor of all other interests. 
It is in vain to tantalize us with the greater cheapness of 
foreign fabrics. There must be an ability to purchase, if 
an article be obtained, whatever may be the price, high or 
low, at which it was sold. And a cheap article is as much 
beyond the grasp of him who has no means to buy, as a 
high one. Even if it were true that the American manu- 
facturer would supply consumption at dearer rates, it is 
better to have his fabrics than the unattainable foreign fa- 
brics; because it is better to be ill supplied that not supplied 
at all. A coarse coat, which will communicate warmth and 
cover nakedness, is better than no coat. The superiority of 
the home market results, 1st, from its steadiness and com- 
parative certainty at all times; 2d, from the creation of re- 
ciprocal interests; 3d, from its greater security; and, lastly, 
from an ultimate and not distant augmentation of consump- 
tion, (and consequently of comfort,) from increased quan- 
tity and reduced prices. But this home market, highly 
desirable as it is, can only be created and cherished by the 
PROTECTION of our owu legislation against the inevitable 
prostration of our industry, which must ensue from the ac- 
tion of FOREIGN policy and legislation. The effect and the 
value of this domestic care of our own interests will be 
obvious from a few facts and considerations. Let us sup- 
pose that half a million of persons are now employed abroad 
in fabricating, for our consumption, those articles, of which, 



276 ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

by the operation of this bill, a supply is intended to be pro- 
vided within ourselves. That half a million of persons are, 
in effect, subsisted by us; but their actual means of subsis- 
tence are drawn from foreign agriculture. If we could 
transport them to this country, and incorporate them in the 
mass of our own population, there would instantly arise a 
demand for an amount of provisions equal to that which 
would be requisite for their subsistence throughout the 
whole year. That demand, in the article of flour alone, 
would not be less than the quantity of about nine hundred 
thousand barrels, besides a proportionate quantity of beef, 
and pork, and other articles of subsistence. But nine hun- 
dred thousand barrtls of flour exceeded the entire quantity 
exported last year, by nearly one hundred and fifty thousand 
barrels. What activity would not this give, what cheerful- 
ness would it not conimunicaie, to our now dispirited farm- 
ing interest! But if, instead of these five hundred thousand 
artizans emigrating from abroad, we give by this bill em- 
ployment to an equal number of our own citizens, now en- 
gaged in unprofitable agriculture, or idle, from the want of 
business, the beneficial effect upon the productions of our 
farming labor would be nearly doubled. The quantity would 
be diminished by a subtraction of the produce from the 
labor of all those who should be diverted from its pursuits 
to manufacturing industry, and the value of the residue 
would be enhanced, both by that diminution and ihe crea- 
tion of the heme market to the extent supposed. And the 
honorable gentleman from Virginia may repress any appre- 
hensions which he entertains, that the plough will be aban- 
doned, and our fields ren:iain unsown. For, under all the 
modifications of social industry, if you will secure to it a 
just reward, the greater attractions of agriculture will give 
to it that proud superiority which it has always maintamed. 
If we suppose no actual abandonment of farming, but, what 
is most likely, a gradual and imperceptible employment of 
population in the business of a)anufacturing, instead of be- 
ing compelled to resort to agriculture, the salutary eflect 
would be nearly the same. Is any part of our common coun- 
try likely to be injured by a transfer of the theatre of fabri- 
cation, for our own consumption, from Europe to America? 
AH that those parts, if any there be, which will not, nor 
cannot engage in manufactures, should require, is, that their 
consumption should be well supplied; and if the objects of 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 277 

that consumption are produced in other parts of the union, 
that can manufacture, far from having on that account any 
just cause of complaint, their patriotism will and ought to 
inculcate a cheerful acquiescence in what essentially contri- 
butes, «;2^ is indispensibly necessary to the prosperity of the 
common family. 

The great desideratum in political economy, is the same 
as in private pursuits; that is, what is the best application 
of the aggregate industry of a nation, that can be made ho- 
nestly to produce the largest sum of national wealth? Labor 
is the source of all wealth; but it is not natural labor only. 
And the fundamental error of the gentleman from Virginia, 
and of the school to which he belongs, in deducing, from 
our sparse population, our unfitness for the introduction of 
the arts, consists in their not sufficiently weighing the impor- 
tance of the power of machinery. In former times, when 
but little comparative use was made of machinery, manual 
labor, and the price of wages, were circumstances of the 
greatest consideration. But it is far otherwise in these lat- 
ter times. Such are the improvements and the perfection 
of machinery, that, in analysing the compound value of many 
fabrics, the element of natural labor is so inconsiderable as 
almost to escape detection. This truth is demonstrated by 
many facts. Formerly, Asia, in consequence of the density 
of her population, and the consequent lowness of wages, 
laid Europe under tribute for many of her fabrics. Now 
Europe re acts upon Asia, and Great Britain, in particular, 
throws back upon her countless millions of people, the rich 
treasures produced by artificial labor, to a vast amount, in- 
finitely cheaper than they can be manufactured by the natu- 
ral exertions of that portion of the globe. But Britain is 
herself the most striking illustration of the immense power 
of machinery. Upon what other principle can you account 
for the enormous wealth which she has accumulated, and 
which she annually produces? A statistical writer of that 
country, several years ago, estimated the total amount of 
the artificial or machine labor of the nation, to be equal to 
that of one hundred millions of able-bodied laborers. Sub- 
sequent estimates of her artificial labor, at the present day, 
carry it to the enormous height of two hundred millions. 
But the population of the three kingdoms is twenty-one 
millions five hundred thousand. Supposing that, to furnish 
able-bodied labor to the amount of four millions, the natural 



278 ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

labor will be but two per centum of the artificial labor. In 
the production of wealth she operates, therefore, by a power, 
(including the whole population, J of two hundred and twen- 
ty-one millions five hundred thousand; or, in other words, 
by a power eleven times greater than the total of her natural 
power. If we suppose the machine labor of the United 
States to be equal to that often millions of able-bodied men, 
the United States will operate, in the creation of wealth, by 
a ppwer, (including all their population,) of twenty millions. 
In the creation of wealth, therefore, the power of Great 
Britain, compared to that of the United States, is as eleven 
to one. That these views are not imaginary, will be, I think, 
evinced, by contrasting the wealth, the revenue, the power 
of the two countries. Upon what other hypothesis can we 
explain those almost incredible exertions which Britain 
made during the late wars of Europe? Look at her im- 
mense subsidies! Behold her standing, unaided and alone, 
and breasting the storm of Napoleon's colossal power, when 
all continental Europe, owned and yielded to its irresistible 
sway; and finally, contemplate her vigorous prosecution of 
the war, with and without allies, to its splendid termina- 
tion, on the ever memorable field of Waterloo! The British 
works which the gentleman from Virginia has quoted, por- 
tray a state of the most wonderful prosperity, in regard to 
wealth and resources, that ever was before contemplated. Let 
us look a little into the semi-official pamphlet, written with 
great force, clearness, and ability, and the valuable work 
of Lowe, to both of which that gentleman has referred. The 
revenue of the united kingdom amounted, during the latter 
years of the war, to seventy millions of pounds sterling; and 
one year it rose to the astonishing height of ninety millions 
sterling, equal to four hundred millions of dollars. This 
was actual revenue, made up of real contributions, from the 
purses of the people.. After the close of the war, ministers 
slowly and reluctantly reduced the military and naval es- 
tablishments, and accommodated them to a state of peace. 
The pride of power, every where the same, always unwil- 
lingly surrenders any of those circumstances, which display 
its pomp and exhibit its greatness. Cotemporaneous with 

I this reduction/ Britain was enabled to lighten some of the 
heaviest burthens of taxation, and particularly that most 
onerous of all, the tmome tax. In this lowered state, the 
revenue of peace, graduaJy rising from the momentary de- 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 379 

pression incident to a transition from war, attained, in 1822, 
the vast amount of fifty-five millions sterling, upwards of 
two hundred and forty millions of dollars, and more than 
eleven times that of the United States for the same year; 
thus indicating the difference, which I have suggested, in 
the respective productive powers of the two countries. The 
excise alone, (collected under twenty-five different heads,) 
amounted to twenty-eight millions, more than one half of 
the total revenue of the kingdom. This great revenue allows 
Great Britain to constitute an efficient sinking fund of five 
millions sterling, being an excess of actual income beyond 
expenditure, and amounting to more than the entire revenue 
of the United States. 

If we look at the commerce of England, we shall per- 
ceive that its prosperous condition no less denotes the im- 
mensity of her riches. The average of three years' exports, 
ending in 1789, was between thirteen and fourteen millions. 
The average for the same term, ending in 1822, was forty 
millions sterling. The average of the imports for three 
years, ending in 1789, was seventeen millions. The average 
for the same term, ending in 1822, was thirty-six millions, 
showing a favorable balance of four millions. Thus, in a 
period not longer than that which has elapsed since the 
establishment of our constitution, have the exports of that 
kingdom been trippled; and this has mainly been the effect 
of the power of machinery. The total amount of the com- 
merce of Great Britain is greater since the peace, by one- 
fourth, than it was during the war. The average of her 
tonnage, during the most flourishing period of the war, was 
two millions four hundred thousand tons. Its average, dur- 
ing the three years, 1819, 1820, and 1821, was two millions 
six hundred thousand; exhibiting an increase of two hun- 
dred thousand tons. If we glance at some of the more pro- 
minent articles of her manufactures, we shall be assisted in 
comprehending the true nature of the sources of her riches. 
The amount of cotton fabrics exported, in the most pros- 
perous year of the war, was eighteen millions sterling. In 
the year 1820, it was sixteen millions six hundred thousand; 
in 1821, twenty millions five hundred thousand; in i822, 
twenty-one millions six hundred and thirty-nine thousand 
pounds sterling; presenting the astonishing increase in two 
years of upwards of five millions. The total amount of 
imports in Great Britain, from all foreign parts, of the ar- 



280 ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

ticl? of cotton wool, is five millions sterling. After supply- 
ing most abundantly the consumption of cotton fabrics with- 
in the country, (and a people better fed and clad and housed, 
are not to be found under the sun than the British nation,) 
by means of her industry, she gives to this cotton wool a 
new value, which enables her to sell to foreign nations to 
the amount of twenty one millions six hundred and thirty- 
nine thousand pounds, making a clear profit of upwards of 
sixteen millions five hundred thousand pounds sterling! In 
1821, the value of the export of woollen manufactures was 
four millions three hundred thousand pounds. In 1822, it 
was five millions five hundred thousand pounds. The suc- 
cess of her restrictive policy is strikingly illustrated in the 
article of silk. In the manufacture of that article she labors 
under great disadvantages, besides that of not producing 
the raw material. She has subdued them all, and the in- 
crease of the manufacture has been most rapid. Although 
she is still unable to maintain, in foreign countries, a suc- 
cessful competition with the silks of France, of India, and 
of Italy, and, therefore, exports but little, she gives to the 
two millions of the raw material which she imports, in va- 
rious forms, a value of ten millions, which chiefly enter into 
British consumption. Let us suppose that she was depen- 
dent upon foreign nations for these ten millions, what an 
injurious effect would it not have upon her commercial 
relations with them? The average of the exports of British 
manufactures, during the peace, exceeds the average of the 
most productive years of the war. The amount of her wealth 
annually produced, is three hundred and fifty millions ster- 
ling; bearing a large proportion to all of her pre-existing 
wealth. The agricultural portion of it is said, by the gen- 
tleman from Virginia, to be greater than that created by 
any other branch of her industry. But that flows mainly 
from a policy similar to that proposed by this bill. One- 
third only of her population is engaged in agriculture; the 
other two-thirds furnishing a market for the produce of that 
third. Withdraw this market, and what becomes of her 
agriculture? The power and the wealth of Great Britain 
cannot be more strikingly illustrated than by a comparison 
of her population and revenue with those of other countries 
and with our own. [Here Mr. Clay exhibited the following 
table, made out from authentic materials.J 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 281 





Population. 


Taxes & public 
burthens. 


Taxaiion 
per capita. 


Russia in Europe, 


37,000,000 


L. 18,000,000 


L.O 9 9 


France, includiog Corsica, 


80,700,000 


37,000,000 


1 4 


Great Britaia, exclusive of" 








Ireland, (the taxes com- 








puted according to the • 


14,500,000 


40,000,000 


2 15 


value of money on the 








European continent,) 








Great Britain and Ireland ' 
collectively, 


21,500,000 


44,000,000 


2 


England alone. 


11,600,000 


36,000,000 


3 2 


Spain, 


11,000,000 


6,000,000 


11 


Ireland, 


7,000,000 


4,000,000 


11 


The United States of America, 


10,000,000 


4,500,000 


9 



From this exhibit we must remark, that the wealth of Great 
Britain, (and consequently her power,) is greater than that 
of any of the other nations with which it is compared. The 
amount of the contributions which she draws from the 
pockets of her subjects, is not referred to for imitation, but 
as indicative of their wealth. The burthen of taxation is 
always relative to the ability of the subjects of it. A poor 
nation can pay but little. And the heavier taxes of British 
subjects, for example, in consequence of their greater wealth, 
may be easier borne than the much lighter taxes of Spanish 
subjects, in consequence of their extreme poverty. The ob- 
ject of wise governments should be, by sound legislation, 
so to protect the industry of their own citizens against the 
policy of foreign powers, as to give to it th*e most expansive 
force in the production of wealth. Great Britain has ever 
acted, and still acts, on this policy. She has pushed her 
protection of British interest further than any other nation 
has fostered its industry. The result is, greater wealth 
among her subjects, and consequently greater ability to pay 
their public burthens. If their taxation is estimated by their 
natural labor alone, nominally it is greater than the taxation 
of the subjects of any other power. But, if on a scale of 
their national and artificial labor, compounded, it is less than 
the taxation of any other people. Estimating it on that 
scale, and assuming the aggregate of the natural and artifi- 
cial labor of the united kingdom to be what I have already- 
stated, two hundred and twenty-one millions five hundred 
thousand, the actual taxes paid by a British subject are only 
about three and seven pence sterling. Estimating our own 
taxes, on a similar scale, — that is, supposing both descrip- 
tions of labor to be equal to that of twenty millions of able- 

O o 



282 ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

bodied persons — the amount of tax paid by each'soul in the 
Unit«^d States is four shillings and six-pence sterling. 

The committee will observe, from that table, that the 
measure of the wealth of a nation is indicated by the mea- 
sure of its protection of its industry; and that the measure 
of the poverty of a nation is marked by that of the degree 
in which it neglects and abandons the care of its own in- 
dustry, leaving it exposed to the action of foreign powers. 
Great Britain protects most her industry, and the wealth of 
Great Britain is consequently the greatest. France is next 
in the degree of protection, and France is next in the order 
of wealth. Spain most neglects the duty of protecting the 
industry of her subjects, and Spain is one of the poorest of 
European nations. Unfortunate Ireland, disinherited, or 
rendered,. in her industry, subservient to England, is exact- 
ly in the same state of poverty with Spain, measured by the 
rule of taxation. And the United States are still poorer 
than either. 

The views of British prosperity, wVich I have endea- 
vored to present, show that her protecting policy is adapted 
alike to a state of war and of peace. Self-poised, resting 
upon her own internal resources, possessing a home mar- 
ket, carefully cherished and guarded, she is ever prepared for 
any emergency. We have seen her coming out of a war of 
incalculable exerJ:ion, and of great duration, with her power 
unbroken, her means undiminished. We have seen, that 
almost every revolving year of peace has brought along 
with it an increase of her manufactures, of her commerce, 
and, consequently, of her navigation. We have seen that, 
constructing her prosperity upon the solid foundation of her 
own protecting policy, it is unaffected by the vicissitudes of 
other states. What is our own condition? Depending upon 
the state of foreign powers — confiding exclusively in a fo- 
reign, to the culpable neglect of a domestic policy — our 
interests are affected by all their movements. Their wars, 
their misfortunes, are the only source of our prosperity. In 
their peace, and our peace, we behold our condition the 
reverse of that of Cireat Britain —and all our interests, sta- 
tionary or declining. Peace brings to us none of the bles- 
sings of peace. Our system is anomalous; alike unfitted to 
general tranquillity, and to a state of war or peace, on the 
part of our own country. It can succeed only in the rare 
occurrence of a general state of war throughout Europe. I 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 283 

am no eulogist of England. I am far from recommending 
her systems of taxation. I have adverted to them only as 
manifesting her extraordinary ability. The political and fo- 
reign interests of that nation may have been, as I believe 
them to have been, often badly managed. Had she abstained 
from the wars into which she has been plunged by her am- 
bition, or the mistaken policy of her ministers, the pros- 
perity of England would, unquestionably, have been much 
greater. But it may happen that the public liberty, and the 
foreign relations of a nation, have been badly provided for, 
and yet that its political economy has been wisely managed. 
The alacrity or sullenness with which a people pay taxes, 
depends upon their wealth or poverty. If the system of 
their rulers leads to their impoverishment, they can contri- 
bute but little to the necessities of the state; if to their wealth, 
they cheerfully and promptly pay the burthens imposed on 
them. Enormous as British taxation appears to be, in com- 
parison with that of other nations, but really lighter, as it 
in fact is, when we consider its great wealth, and its powers 
of production, that vast amount is collected with the most 
astonishing regularity. [Here Mr. Clay read certain pas- 
sages from Holt, showing that, in 1822, there was not a 
solitary prosecution arising out of the collection of the as- 
sessed taxes, which are there considered among the most 
burthensome, and that the prosecutions for violations of the 
excise laws, in all its numerous branches, were sensibly and 
progressively decreasing.] 

Having called the attention of the committee to the pre- 
sent adverse state of our country, and endeavored to point 
out the causes which have led to it, having shown that 
similar causes, wherever they exist in other countries, lead 
to the same adversity in their condition; and having shown 
that, wherever we find opposite causes prevailing, a high 
and animating state of national prosperity exists, the com- 
mittee will agree with me in thinking that it is the solemn 
duty of government to apply a remedy to the evils which 
afflict our country, if it can apply one. Is there no remedy 
within the reach of the government? Are we doomed to 
behold our industrv languish and decay, yet more and more? 
But there is a remedy, and that remedy consists in modi- 
fying our foreign policy, and in adopting a genuine Ameri- 
can SYSTEM. We must naturalize the arts in our country; 
and we must naturalize them by the only means which ^he 



284 ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

wisdom of nations has yet discovered to be effectual; by 
adequate protection against the otherwise overwhelming in- 
fluence of foreigners. This is only to be accomplished by 
tht establishment of a tariff, to the consideration of which 
I am now brought. 

And what is this tariff? It seems to have been regarded 
as a sort of monster, huge and deformed — a wild beast, 
endowed with tremendous powers of destruction, about to 
be let loose among our people — if not to devour them, at 
least to consume their substance. But let us calm our pas- 
sions, and deliberately survey this alarming, this terrific 
being. The sole object of the tariff is to tax the produce of 
foreign industry, with the view of promoting American in- 
dustry. The tax is exclusively levelled at foreign industry. 
That is the avowed and the direct purpose of the tariff. If it 
subjects any part of American industry to burthens, that is 
an effect not intended, but is altogether incidental, and per- 
fectly voluntary. 

It has been treated as an imposition of burthens upon one 
part of the community by design, for the benefit of another; 
as if, in fact, money were taken from the pockets of one 
portion of the people and put into the pockets of another. 
But, is that a fair representation of it? No man pays the 
duty assessed on the foreign article by compulsion, but 
voluntarily; and this voluntary duty, if paid, goes into the 
common exchequer, for the common benefit of all. Con- 
sumption has four objects of choice. 1. It may abstain from 
the use of the foreign article, and thus avoid the payment 
of the tax. 2. It may employ the rival American fabric. 
3. It may engage in the business of manufacturing, which 
this bill is designed to foster. 4. Or it may supply itself 
from the household manufactures. But it is said, by the 
honorable gentleman from Virginia, that the south, owing 
to the character of a certain portion of its population, can- 
not engage in the business of manufacturing. Now, I do not 
agree in that opinion, to the extent in which it is asserted. 
The circumstance alluded to may disqualify the south from 
engaging, in every branch of manufacture, as largely as other 
quarters of the union, but to some branches of it, that part 
of our population is well adapted. It indisputably affords 
great iaciiity in the household or domestic line. But, if the 
gentleman's premises were true, could his conclusion be ad- 
mitted? According to him, a certain part of our population^ 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 285 

happily much the smallest, is peculiarly situated. The cir- 
cumstance of its degradation unfits it for the manufacturing 
arts. The well-being of the other, and the larger part of 
our population, requires the introduction of those arts. What 
is to be done in this conflict? The gentleman would have 
us abstain from adopting a policy called for by the interest 
of the greater and freer part of our population. But is that 
reasonable? Can it be expected that the interests of the 
greater part should be made to bend to the condition of the 
servile part of our population? That, in effect, would be to 
make us the slaves of slaves. I went, with great pleasure, 
along with my southern friends, and I am ready again to 
unite with them in protesting against the exercise of any le- 
gislative power, on the part of congress, over that delicate 
subject, because it was my solemn conviction, that congress 
was interdicted, or at least not authorised, by the constitu- 
tion, to exercise any such legislative power. And I am sure 
that the patriotism of the south may be exclusively relied 
upon to reject a policy which should be dictated by consi- 
derations altogether connected with that degraded class, to 
the prejudice of the residue of our population. But does not 
a perseverance in the foreign policy, as it now exists in fact, 
make all parts of the union, not planting, tributary to the 
planting parts? What is the argument? It is, that we must 
continue freely to receive the produce of foreign industry, 
without regard to the protection of American industry, that 
a market may be retained for the sale abroad of the produce 
of the planting portion of the country; and that, if we lessen 
the consumption, in all parts of America, those which are 
not planting as well as the planting sections, of foreign ma- 
nufactures, we diminish to that extent the foreign market 
for the planting produce. The existing state of things, in- 
deed, presents a sort of tacit compact between the cotton 
grower and the British manufacturer, the stipulations of 
which are, on the part of the cotton grower, that the whole 
of the United States, the other portions as well as the cot- 
ton growing, shall remain open and unrestricted in the con- 
sumption of British manufactures; and, on the part of the 
British manufacturer, that, in consideration thereof, he will 
continue to purchase the cotton of the south. Thus, then, 
we perceive that the proposed measure, instead of sacri- 
ficing the south to the other parts of the union, seeks only 
to preserve them from being absolutely sacrificed under the 



286 ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

operation of the tacit compact which I have described. Sup- 
posing the south to be actually incompetent, or disinclined 
to embark at all in the business of manufacturing, is not its 
interest, nevertheless, likely to be promoted by creating a 
new and an American source of supply for its consumption? 
Now foreign powers, and Great Britain principally, have 
the monopoly of the supply of southern consumption. If 
this bill should pass, an American competitor, in the sup- 
ply of the south, would be raised up, and ultimately, 1 can- 
not doubt, that it will be supplied cheaper and better. I 
have before had occasion to state, and will now again men- 
tion, the beneficial effects of American competition with 
Europe in furnishing a supply of the article of cotton bag- 
ging. After the late war, the influx of the Scottish manu- 
facture prostrated the American establishments. The con- 
sequence was that the Scotch possessed the monopoly of the 
supply; and the price of it rose, and attained, the year before 
the last, a height which amounted to more than an equiva- 
lent for ten years protection to the American manufacture. 
This circumstance tempted American industry again to en- 
gage in the business, and several valuable manufactories 
have been established in Kentucky. They have reduced the 
price of the fabric very considerably; but, without the pro- 
tection of government, they may again be prostrated — and 
then, the Scottish manufacturer engrossing ;he supply of 
our consumption, the price will probably again rise, it has 
been tauntingly asked if Kentucky cannot maintain herself 
in a competition with the two Scottish towns of Inverness 
and Dundee? But is that a fair statement of the case? Those 
two towns are cherished and sustained by the whole pro- 
tecting policy of the British empire, whilst Kentucky cannot, 
and the general government will not, extend alike protec- 
tion to the few Kentucky villages in which the article is 
made. 

If the cotton growing consumption could be constitution- 
ally exempted from the operation of this bill, it might be 
lair to exempt it upon the condition that foreign manufac- 
tures, the proceeds of the sale of cotton abroad, should not 
enter at all into the consumption of the other parts of the 
United States. But such an arrangement as that, if it could 
be made, would probably be objected to by the cotton grow- 
ing country itself. 

S. The second objection to the proposed bill is, that it 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 287 

will diminish the amount of our exports. It can have no 
effect upon our exports, except those which are sent to Eu- 
rope. Except tobacco and rice, we send there nothing but 
the raw materials. The argument is, that Europe will not 
buy of us, if we do not buy of her. The first objection to 
it is, that it calls upon us to look to the question, and to take 
care of European ability in legislating for American inter- 
ests. Now if, in legislating for their interests, they would 
consider and provide for our ability, the principle of reci- 
procity would enjoin us so to regulate our intercourse with 
them, as to leave their ability unimpaired. Bui I have shown 
that, in the adoption of their own policy, their inquiry is 
strictly limited to a consideration of their peculiar interests, 
without any regard to that of ours. The next remark I would 
make is, that the bill only operates upon certain articles 
of European industry, which it is supposed our interest re- 
quires us to manufacture within ourselves; and although its 
effect will be to diminish the amount of our imports of those 
articles, it leaves them free to supply us with any other 
produce of their industry. And since the circle of human 
comforts, refinements, and luxuries, is of great extent, Eu- 
rope will still find herself able to purchase from us what 
she has hitherto done, and to discharge the debt in some of 
those objects. If there be any diminution in our exports to 
Europe, it will probably be in the article of cotton to Great 
Britain. I have stated that Britain buys cotton wool to the 
amount of about five millions sterling, and sells to foreign 
states to the amount of upwards of twenty-one millions and 
a half. Of this sum, we take a little upwards of a million 
and a half. The residue, of about twenty millions, she must 
sell to other foreign powers than to the United States. Now 
their market will continue open to her, as much after the 
passage of this bill, as before. She will therefore require 
from us the raw material to supply their consumption. But, 
it is said, she may refuse to purchase it of us, and seek a 
supply elsewhere. There can be but little doubt that she 
new resorts to us, because we can supply her cheaper and 
better than any other country. And it would be unreasona- 
ble to suppose that she would cease, from any pique towards 
us, to pursue her own interest. Suppose she was to decline 
purchasing from us: The consequence would be, that she 
would lose the market for the twenty millions sterling, which 
she now sells other foreign powers, or enter it under a dis- 



288 ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

advantageous competition with us, or with other nations, 
who should obtain their supplies of the raw material from 
us. If there should be any diminution, therefore, in the ex- 
portation of cotton, it would only be in the proportion of 
about one and a half to twenty; that is, a little upwards of 
five per centum; the loss of a market for which, abroad, 
would be fully compensated by the market for the article 
created at home. Lastly, I would observe, that the new 
application of our industry, producing new objects of expor- 
tation, and they possessing much greater value than in the 
raw state, we should be, in the end, amply indemnified by 
their exportation. Already the item in our foreign exports 
of manufactures is considerable; and we know that our cot- 
ton fabrics have been recently exported in a large amount 
to South America, where they maintain a successful com- 
petition with those of any other country. 

3. The third objection to the tariff is, that it will diminish 
our navigation. This great interest deserves every encou- 
ragement, consistent with the paramount interest of agri- 
culture. In the order of nature it is secondary to both agri- 
culture and manufactures. Its business is the transportation 
of the productions of those two superior branches of indus- 
try. It cannot therefore be expected, that they shall be 
moulded or sacrificed to suit its purposes; but, on the con- 
trary, navigation must accommodate itself to the actual state 
of agriculture and manufactures, if, as I believe, we have 
nearly reached the maximum in value of our exports of raw 
produce to Europe, the effect hereafter will be, as it respects 
that branch of our trade, if we persevere in the foreign sys- 
tem, to retain our navigation at the point which it has now 
reached. By reducing, indeed, as will probably take place, 
the price of our raw materials, a further quantity of them 
could be exported, and, of course, additional employment 
might, in that way, be given to our tonnage; but that would 
be at the expense of the agricultural interest. If I am right 
in supposing that no effect will be produced by this measure 
upon any other branch of our export trade, but that to Eu- 
rope; that, with regard to that, there will be no sensible 
diminution of our exports; and that the new direction given 
to a portion of our industry will produce other objects of 
exportation, the probability is, that our foreign tonnage will 
be even increased under the operation of this bill. But, if 
I am mistaken in these views, aud it should experience any 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 289 

reduction, the increase in our coasting tonnage, resulting 
from the greater activity of domestic exchanges, will more 
than compensate the injury. Although our navigation par- 
takes in the general distress of the country, it is less de- 
pressed than any other of our grt at interests. The foreign 
tonnage has been gradually, though slowly, increasing, since 
1818. And our coasting tonnage, since 1816, has increased 
upwards of one hundred thousand tons. 

4. It is next contended that the effect of the measure will 
be to diminish our foreign commerce. The objection as- 
sumes, what I have endeavoured to controvert, that there 
will be a reduction in the value of our exports. Commerce 
is an exchange of commodities. Whatever will tend to aug- 
ment the wealth of a nation must increase its capacity to 
make these exchanges. By new productions, or creating new 
values in the fabricated forms which shall be given to old 
objects of our industry, we shall give to commerce a fresh 
spring, a new aliment. The foreign cummcrce of the coun- 
try, from causes, some of which 1 have endeavored to point 
out, has been extended as far as it can be. And I think there 
can be but little doubt that the balance of trade is, and for 
some time past has been, against us. I was surprised to hear 
the learned gentleman from Massachusetts, (Mr. Webster,) 
rejecting, as a detected and exploded fallacy, the idea of a 
balance of trade. I have not time nor inclination now to dis- 
cuss that topic. But 1 will observe, that all nations act upon 
the supposition of the reality of its existence, and seek to 
avoid a trade, the balance of which is unfavorable, and to 
foster that which presents a favorable balance. — However 
the account be made up, whatever may be the items of 
a trade, commodities, fishing Industry, marine labor, the 
carrying trade, all of which I admit should be comprehend- 
ed, there can be no doubt, I think, that the totality of the 
exchanges of all descriptions made by one nation with an- 
other, or against the totality of the exchanges of all other 
nations together, may be such as to present the state of an 
unfavorable balance with the one or with all. It is true that, 
in the long run, the measures of these exchanges, that is, 
the totality in value of what is given and of what is received, 
must be equal to each other. But great distress may be felt 
long before the counterpoise can be effected. In the mean 
time, there will be an export of the precious metals, to the 
deep injury of internal trade, an unfavorable state of ex- 

P P 



290 ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

change, an export of public securities, a resort to credit, 
debt, mortgages. Most of, if not all, these circumstances, 
are believed now to be indicated by our country, in its fo- 
reign commercial relations. What have we received, for 
example, for the public stocks sent to England? Goods. But 
those stocks are our bond, which must be paid. Although 
the solidity of the credit of the English public securities is 
not surpassed by that of our own, strong as it justly is, when 
have we seen English stocks sold in our market, and regu- 
larly quoted in the prices current, as American stocks are 
in England? An unfavorable balance with one nation, may 
be made u]) by a favorable balance with other nations; but 
the fact of the existence of that unfavorable balance is strong 
presumptive evidence against the trade. Commerce will 
regulate itself! Yes, and the extravagance of a spendthrift 
heir, who squanders the rich patrimony which has descended 
to him, will regulate itself ultimately. But it will be a re- 
gulation which will exhibit him in the end safely confined 
within the walls of a jail. Commerce will regulate itself! 
But is it not the duty of wise governments to watch its 
course, and, beforehand, to provide against even distant 
evils; by prudent legislation stimulating the industry of their 
own people, and checking the policy of foreign powers as 
it operates on them? The supply, then, of the subjects of 
foreign commerce, no less than the supply of consumption 
at home, requires of us to give a portion of our labor such 
a direction as will enable us to produce them. That is the 
object of the measure under consideration, and I cannot 
doubt that, if adopted, it will accomplish its object. 

5. The fifth objection to the tariff is, that it will diminish 
the public revenue, disable us from paying the public debt, 
and finally compel a resort to a system of excise and inter- 
nal taxation. This objection is founded upon the supposi- 
tion that the reduction in the importation of the subjects, 
on which the increased duties are to operate, will be such 
as to produce the alleged effect. All this is matter of mere 
conjecture, and can only be determined by experiment. I 
have very little doubt, with my colleague, (Mr. Trimble,) 
that the revenue will be increased considerably, for some 
years at least, under the operation of this bill. The dimi- 
nution in the quantity imported will be compensated by the 
augmentation of the duty. In reference to the article of 
molasses, for example, if the import of it should be reduced 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY, 291 

fifty per centum the amount of duty collected would be the 
same as it now is. But it will not, in all probability, be re- 
duced by any thing like that proportion. And then there 
are some other articles which will continue to be introduced 
in as large quantities as ever, notwithstanding the increase 
of duty, the object in reference to them being revenue and 
not the encouragement of domestic manufactures. Another 
cause will render the revenue of this year, in particular, 
much more productive than it otherwise would have been; 
and that is, that large quantities of goods have been intro- 
duced into the country, in anticipation of the adoption of 
this measure. The eagle does not dart a keener gaze upon his 
intended prey, than that with which the British manufacturer 
and merchant watches the foreign market, and the course 
even of our elections as well as our legislation. I'he pas- 
sage of this bill has been expected; and all our information 
is that the importations, during this spring, have been im- 
mense. But, further, the measure of our importations is 
that of our exportations. If I am right in supposing that, 
in future, the amount of these, in the old or new forms, of 
the produce of our labor will not be diminished, but proba- 
bly increased, then the amount of our importations, and, 
consequently, of our revenue, will not be reduced, but 
may be extended. If these ideas be correct, there will be 
no inability on the part of government to extinguish the 
public debt — The payment of that debt, and the consequent 
liberation of the public resources from the charge of it, is 
extremely desirable. No one is more anxious than I am to 
see that important object accomplished. But I entirely con- 
cur with the gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. Barbour,^ in 
thinking that no material sacrifice of any of the great inter- 
ests of the nation ought to be made to effectuate it. Such is 
the elastic and accumulatmg nature of our public resources, 
from the silent augmentation of our population, that if, in 
any given state of the public revenue, we throw ourselves 
upon a couch and go to sleep, we may, after a short time, 
awake with an ability abundantly increased to redeem any 
reasonable amount of public debt with which we may hap- 
pen to be burthened. The public debt of the United States, 
though nominally larger now than it was in the year 1791, 
bears really no sort of discouraging comparison to its amount 
at that time, whatever standard we may choose to adopt to 
institute the comparison. It was in 1791 about seventy-five 



292 ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

millions of dollars. It is now about ninety. Then we had a 
population of about four millions. Now we have upwards of 
ten millions. Then we had a revenue short of five millions of 
dollars. Now our revenue exceeds twenty. If we select popu- 
lation as the standard, our present population is one hundred 
and fifty per centum greater than it was in 1791; if revenue, 
that is four times more now than at the former period; whilst 
the public debt has increased only in a ratio of twenty per 
centum. A public debt of three hundred millions of dollars, 
at the present day, considering our actual ability, compound- 
ed both of the increase of population and of revenue, would 
not be more onerous now than the debt of seventy-five mil- 
lions of dollars was, at the epoch of 1 7^1, in reference to the 
same circumstances. If I am right in supposing that, under 
the operation of the proposed measure, there will not be 
any diminution, but a probable increase of the public reve- 
nue, there will be no difficulty in defraying the current ex- 
penses of government, and paying the principal as well as 
the interest of the public debt, as it becomes due. Let us, 
for a moment, however, indulge the improbable supposition 
of the opponents of the tariff, that there will be a reduction 
of the revenue to the extent of the most extravagant calcu- 
lation which has been made, that is to say, to the extent of 
five millions. That sum deducted, we shall still have re- 
maining a revenue of about fifteen millions. The treasury 
estimates of the current service of the years 1822, 1823, and 
1824, exceeds, each year, nine millions. The lapse of revo- 
lutionary pensions, and judicious retrenchments which might 
be made, without detriment to any of the essential esta- 
blishments of the country, would probably reduce them be- 
low nine millions. Let us assume that sum, to which add 
about five millions and a half for the interest of the public 
debt, and the wants of government would require a revenue 
of fourteen and a half millions, leaving a surplus of revenue 
of half a million beyond the public expenditure. Thus, by 
a postponement of the payment of the principal of the public 
debt, in which the public creditors would gladly acquiesce, 
and confiding, for the means of redeeming it in the necessary 
increase of our revenue from the natural augmentation of our 
population and consumption, we may safely adopt the pro- 
posed measure, even if it should be attended, (which is con- 
fidently denied,) v/ith the supposed diminution of revenue. 
"W'e shall not then Kave occasion to vary the existing system 
of taxation; we shall be under no necessity to resort eithei 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 293 

to direct taxes or to an excise. But, suppose the alternative 
were really forced upon us of continuing the foreign system, 
with its inevitable impoverishment of the country, but with 
the advantage of the present mode of collecting the taxes, 
or of adopting the American system, with its increase of 
the national wealth, but with the disadvantage of an excise, 
could any one hesitate between them? Customs and an ex- 
cise agree in the essential particulars, that they are both 
taxes upon consumption, and both are voluntary. They dif- 
fer only in the mode of collection. The office for the col- 
lection of one is located on the frontier, and that for the 
other within the interior. I believe it was Mr. Jefferson, 
who, in reply to the boast of a citizen of New York of the 
amount of the public revenue paid by that city, asked who 
would pay it if the collector's office were removed to Pau- 
lus Hook on the New Jersey shore? National wealth is the 
source of all taxation. And, my word for it, the people are 
too intelligent to be deceived by mere names, and not to 
give a decided preference to that system which is based 
upon their wealth and prosperity, rather than to that which 
is founded upon their impoverishment and ruin. 

6. But, according to the opponents of the domestic policy, 
the proposed system will force capital and labor into new 
and reluctant employments; we are not prepared, in con- 
sequence of the high price of wages, for the successful 
establishment of manufactures, and we must fail in the ex- 
periment. We have seen, that the existing occupations of 
our society, those of agriculture, commerce, navigation, 
and the learned professions, are overflowing with competi- 
tors, and that the want of employment is severely felt. Now 
what does this bill propose? To open a new and extensive 
field of business, in which all that choose may enter. There 
is no compulsion upon any one to engage in it. An option 
only is given to industry, to continue in the present unpro- 
fitable pursuits, or to embark in a new and promising one. 
The effect will be to lessen the competition in the old 
branches of business, and to multiply our resources for in- 
creasing our comforts, and augmenting the national wealth. 
The alleged fact, of the high price of wages is not admitted. 
The truth is, that no class of society suffers more, in the 
present stagnation of business, than the laboring class. That 
is a necessary effect of the depression of agriculture, the 
principal business of the community. The wages of able- 



294 ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

bodied men vary from five to eight dollars per month; and 
such has been the want of employment, in some parts of the 
union, that instances have not been unfrequent, of men work- 
ing merely for the means of present subsistence. If the 
wages for labor here and in England are compared, they 
will be found not to be essentially different. I agree with 
the honorable gentleman from Virginia, that high wages are 
a proof of national prosperity; we differ only in the means 
by which that desirable end shall be attained. But, if the 
fact were true, that the wages of labor are high, I deny the 
correctness of the argument founded upon it. The argu- 
ment assumes, that natural labor is the principal element in 
the business of manufacture. That was the ancient theory. 
But the valuable inventions and vast improvements in ma- 
chinery, which have been made within a few past years, 
have produced a new era in the arts. The effect of this 
change, in the powers of production, may be estimated, from 
what I have already stated in relation to England, and to 
the triumphs of European artificial labor over the natural 
labor of Asia. In considering the fitness of a nation for the 
establishment of manufactures, we must no longer limit our 
views to the state of its population, and ihe price of wages. 
All circumstances must be regarded, of which that is, per- 
haps, the least important. Capital, ingenuity in the con- 
struction, and adroitness in the use of machinery, and the 
possession of the raw materials, are those which deserve 
the greatest consideration. All these circumstances, (except 
that of capital, of which there is no deficiency,) exist in our 
country in an eminent degree, and more than counterbalance 
the disadvantage, if it really existed, of the lower wages of 
labor in Great Britain. The dependence upon foreign na- 
tions for the raw material of any great manufacture, has 
been ever considered as a discouraging fact. The state of 
our population is peculiarly favorable to the most extensive 
introduction of machinery. We have no prejudices to com- 
bat, no persons to drive out of employment. The pamphlet, 
to which we have had occasion so otten to refer, in enu- 
merating ihe causes which have brought in England their 
manufactures to such a state of perfection, and which now 
enable them, in the opinion of the writer, to defy all com- 
petition, does not specify , as one of them, low wages. It as- 
signs three — 1st, capital; 2dlv, extent and costliness of ma- 
chinery; and, 3dly, steady and persevering industry. Not- 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 295 

withstanding the concurrence of so many favorable causes, 
in our country, for the introduction of the arts, we are 
earnestly dissuaded from making the experiment, and our 
ultimate failure is confidently predicted. Why should we 
fail? Nations, like men, fail in nothing which they boldly 
attempt, when sustained by virtuous purpose and firm reso- 
lution. I am not willing to admit this depreciation of Ame- 
rican skill and enterprise. I am not willing to strike before 
an effort is made. All our past history exhorts us to pro- 
ceed, and inspires us with animating hopes of success. Past 
predictions of our incapacity have failed, and present pre- 
dictions will not be realized. At the commencement of this 
government, we were told that the attempt would be idle 
to construct a marine adequate to the commerce of the 
country, or even to the business of its coasting trade. The 
founders of our government did not listen to these discou- 
raging counsels; and, behold the fruits of their just com- 
prehension of our resources? Our restrictive policy was 
denounced, and it was foretold that it would utterly disap- 
point all our expectations. But our restrictive policy has 
been eminently successful; and the share which our naviga- 
tion now enjoys in the trade with France, and with the 
British West India islands, attests its victory. What were 
not the disheartening predictions of the opponents of the 
late war? Defeat, discomfiture, and disgrace, were to be 
the certain, but not the worst effect of it. Here, again, did 
prophecy prove false; and the energies of our country, and 
the valor and the patriotism of our people, carried us glo- 
riously through the war. We are now, and ever will be. es- 
sentially, an agricultural people. Without a material change 
in the fixed habits of the country, the friends of this mea- 
sure desire to draw to it, as a powerful auxiliary to its in- 
dustry, the manufacturing arts. The difference between a 
nation with, and without the arts, may be conceived, by the 
difference between a keel-boat and a steam-boat, combatting 
the rapid torrent of the Mississippi. How slow does the 
former ascend, hugging the sinuosities of the shore, pushed 
on by her hardy and exposed crew, now throwing them- 
selves in vigorous concert on their oars, and then seizing 
the pendent boughs of overhanging trees: she seems hardly 
to move; and her scanty cargo is scarcely worth the transpor- 
tation! With what ease is she not passed by the steam-boat, 
laden with the riches of all quarters of the world, with a 



296 ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY, 

crew of gay, cheerful, and protected passengers, now dash- 
ing into the midst of the current, or gliding through the 
eddies near the shore! Nature herself seems to survey, with 
astonishment, the passing wonder, and, in silent submission, 
reluctantly to own the magnificent triumphs, in her own vast 
dominion, of Fulton's immortal genius! 

7. But it is said that, wherever there is a concurrence of 
favorable circumstances, manufactures will arise of them- 
selves, without protection; and that we should not disturb the 
natural progress of industry, but leave things to themselves. 
If all nations would modify their policy on this axiom, per- 
haps it would be better for the common good of the whole. 
Even then, in consequence of natural advantages and a 
greater advance in civilization and in the arts, some nations 
would enjoN a state of much higher prosperity than others. 
But there is no universal legislation. The globe is divided 
into different communities, each seeking to appropriate to 
itself all the advantages it can, without reference to the 
prosperity of others. Whether this is right or not, it has 
always been, and ever will be the case. Perhaps the care of 
the interests of one people, is sufficient tor all the wisdom of 
one legislature; and that it is, among nations as among in- 
dividuals, that the happiness of the whole is best secured 
by each attending to its own peculiar interests. The propo- 
sition to be maintained by our adversaries, is, that manu- 
factures, without protection, will, in due time, spring up 
in our country, and sustain themselves, in a competition 
with foreign fabrics, however advanced the arts, and what- 
ever the degree of protection may be in foreign countries. 
Now I contend that this proposition is refuted by all expe- 
rience, ancient and modern, and in every country. If I am 
asked, why unprotected industry should not succeed in a 
struggle with protected industry; I answer, the fact has 
ever been so, and that is sufficient; I reply, that uniform 
EXPERIENCE cvinces that it cannot succeed in such an un- 
equal contest, and that is sufficient. If we speculate on the 
causes of this universal truth, we may differ about them. 
Still the indisputable fact remains. And we should be as 
unwise in not availing ourselves of the guide which it fur- 
nishes, as a man would be who should refuse to bask in 
the rays of the sun, because he could not agree with judge 
Woodward as to the nature of the substance of that planetj 
to which we are indebted for heat and light. If I were to 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 297 

attempt to particularize the causes which prevent the suc- 
cess of the manufacturing arts, without protection, I should 
say, that they are — 1st; the obduracy of fixed habits. No na- 
tion, no individual, will easily change an established course 
of business, even if it be unprofitable; and least of all is an 
agricultural people prone to innovation. With what reluc- 
tance do they not adopt improvements in the instruments of 
husbandry, or in modes of cultivation! If the farmer makes 
a good crop, and sells it badly; or makes a short crop; buoy- 
ed up by hope he perseveres, and trusts that a favorable 
change of the market, or of the seasons, will enable him, in 
the succeeding year, to repair the misfortunes of the past. 
2dly, The uncertainty, fluctuation, and unsteadiness of the 
home market, when liable to an unrestricted influx of fa- 
brics from all foreign nations; and, 3dly, The superior ad- 
vance of skill, and amount of capital, which foreign nations 
have obtained, by the protection of their own industry. — 
From the latter, or from other causes, the unprotected ma- 
nufactures of a country are exposed to the danger of being 
crushed in their infancy, either by the design or from the 
necessities of foreign manufacturers. Gentlemen are incre- 
dulous as to the attempts of foreign merchants and manu- 
facturers to accomplish the destruction of ours. Why should 
they not make such attempts? If the Scottish manufacturer, 
by surcharging our market, in one year, with the article of 
cotton bagging, for example, should so reduce the price as 
to discourage and put down the home manufacture, he would 
secure to himself the monopoly of the supply. And now, 
having the exclusive possession of the market, perhaps for 
a long term of years, he might be more than indemnified 
for his first loss, in the subsequent rise in the price of the 
article. What have we not seen under our own eyes! The 
competition for the transportation of the mail, between this 
place and Baltimore, so excited, that, to obtain it, an indi- 
vidual offered, at great loss, to carry it a whole year for one 
dollar! His calculation, no doubt, was that, by driving his 
competitor off" the road, and securing to himself the car- 
riage of the mail, he would be afterwards able to repair his 
original loss by new contracts with the department. But 
the necessities of foreign manufacturers, without imputing 
to them any sinister design, may oblige them to throw into 
our markets the fabrics which have accumulated on their 
hands, in consequence of obstruction in the ordinary vents, 
Q q 



^98 ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY, 

or from over-calculation; and the forced sales, at losing 
prices, may prostrate our establishments. From this view 
of the subject, it follows, that, if we would place the indus- 
try of our country upon a solid and unshakable foundation, 
we must adopt the protecting policy, which has every where 
succeeded, and reject that which would abandon it, which 
has every where failed. 

8. But if the policy of protection be wise, the gentleman 
from Virginia, (Mr. Barbour,) has made some ingenious 
calculations to prove that the measure of protection, already 
extended, has been sufficiently great. VVith some few ex- 
ceptions, the existing duties, of which he has made an esti- 
mate, were laid with the object of revenue, and without 
reference to that of encouragement to our domestic indus- 
try; and although it is admitted that the incidental effect of 
duties, so laid, is to promote our manufactures, yet, if it 
falls short of competent protection, the duties might as well 
not have been imposed, with reference to that purpose. A 
moderate addition may accomplish this desirable end; and 
the proposed tariff is believed to have this character. 

9. The prohibitory policy, it is confidently asserted, is 
condemned by the wisdom of Europe, and by her most en- 
lightened statesmen. Is this the fact? We call upon gentle- 
men to show in what instance a nation that has enjoyed its 
benefits has surrendered it. [Here Mr. Barbour rose, (Mr. 
Clay giving way,) and said that England had departed from 
it in the China-trade, in allowing us to trade with her East 
India possessions, and in tolerating our navigation to her 
West India colonies,] With respect to the trade to China, 
the \Vhole amount of what England has done, is, to modify 
the monopoly of the East India Company, in behalf of one 
and a small part of her subjects, to increase the commerce 
of another and the greater portion of them. The abolition 
of the restriction, therefore, operates altogether among the 
subjects of England; and does not touch at all the interests 
of foreign powers. The toleration of our commerce to Bri- 
tish India, is for the sake of the specie, with which we main- 
ly carry on that commerce, and which, having performed 
its circuit, returns to Great Britain in exchange for British 
manufactures. The relaxation from the colonial policy, in 
the instance of our trade and navigation with the West In- 
dies, is a most unfortunate example for the honorable gen- 
tleman; for in it is an illustrious proof of the success of our 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 299 

restrictive policy, when resolutely adhered to. Great Britain 
had prescribed the terms on which we were to be graciously 
allowed to carry on that trade. The effect of her regula- 
tions was to exclude our navigation altogether, and a com- 
plete monopoly, on the part of the British navigation, was 
secured. We forbade it, unless our vessels should be al- 
lowed a perfect reciprocity. Great Britain stood out a long 
time, but finally yielded, and our navigation now fairly 
shares with her's in the trade. Have gentlemen no other 
to exhibit than these trivial relaxations from the prohibitory 
policy — which do not amount to a drop in the bucket — to 
prove its abandonment by Great Britain? Let them show 
us that her laws are repealed which prohibit the introduc- 
tion of our flour and provisions; of French silks, laces, por- 
celain, manufactures of bronze, mirrors, woollens; and of 
the manufactures of all other nations; and then we may be 
ready to allow that Great Britain has really abolished her 
prohibitory policy. We find there, on the contrary, that 
system of policy in full and rigorous operation, and a most 
curiously interwoven system it is, as she enforces it. She 
begins by protecting all parts of her immense dominions 
against foreign nations. She then protects the parent coun- 
tr}' against the colonies; and, finally, one part of the parent 
country against another. The sagacity of Scotch industry 
has carried the process of distillation to a perfection, which 
would place the art in England on a footing of disadvanta- 
geous competition, and English distillation has been pro- 
tected accordingly. But suppose it were even true that 
Great Britain had abolished all restrictions upon trade, and 
allowed the freest introduction of the produce of foreign 
labor, would that prove it unwise for us to adopt the pro- 
tecting system? The object of protection is the establish- 
ment and perfection of the arts. In England it has accom- 
plished its purpose, fulfilled its end. If she has not carried 
every branch of manufacture to the same high state of per- 
fection that any other nation has, she has succeeded in so 
many, that she may safely challenge the most unshackled 
competition in exchanges. It is upon this very ground that 
many of her writers recommend an abandonment of the pro- 
hibitory system. It is to give greater scope to British in- 
dustry and enterprise. It is upon the same selfish principle. 
The object of the most perfect freedom of trade, with such 
a nation as Britain, and of the most rigorous system of pro- 



aOO ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

hibition, with a nation whose arts are in their infancy, may 
both be precisely the same. In both cases it is to give greater 
expansion to native industry. They only differ in the thea- 
tres of their operation. The abolition of the restrictive 
system by Britain, if by it she could prevail upon other na- 
tions to imitate her example, would have the effect of ex- 
tending the consumption of British produce in other coun- 
tries, where her writers boldly affirm it could maintain a 
fearless competition with the produce of native labor. The 
adoption of the restrictive system, on the part of the United 
States, by excluding the produce of foreign labor, would 
extend the consumption of American produce, unable, in 
the infancy and unprotected state of the arts, to sustain a 
competition with foreign fabrics. Let our arts breathe un- 
der the shade of protection; let them be perfected, as they 
are in England, and we shall then be ready, as England now 
is said to be, to put aside protection, and to enter npon the 
freest exchanges. To what other cause, than to their whole 
prohibitory policy, can you ascribe British prosperity? It will 
not do to assign it to that of her antiquity; for France is no 
less ancient; though much less rich and powerful, in pro- 
portion to the population and natural advantages of France. 
Hailam, a sensible and highly approved writer on the mid- 
dle ages, assigns the revival of the prosperity of the north 
of Europe to the success of the woollen manufactories of 
Flanders, and the commerce of which their fabrics became 
the subject; and the commencement of that of England to 
the establishment of similar manufactures there under the 
Edwards, and to the prohibitions which began about the 
same time. As to the poor rates, the theme of so much re- 
proach without England, and of so much regret within it, 
among her speculative writers, the system was a strong 
proof no less of her unbounded wealth than of her pauper- 
ism. What other nation can dispense, in the form of regu- 
lated charity, the enormous sum, I believe, of ten or twelve 
millions sterling? [Mr. Barbour stated it was reduced to 
six; to which Mr. Clay replied, that he entertained no doubt 
but that the benign operation of British protection of home 
industry had greatly reduced it within the last few years, 
by the lull employment of her subjects, of which her flou- 
rishing trade bore evidence.] The number of British pau- 
pers was the result of pressing the principle of population 
to its utmost limits, by her protecting policy, in the creation 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 301 

of wealth, and in placing the rest of the world under tribute 
to her industry. Doubtless the condition of England would 
be better, without paupers, if in other respects it remained 
the same. But in her actual circumstances, the poor system 
has the salutary effect of an equalizing corrective of the 
tendency to the concentration of riches, produced by the 
genius of her political institutions and by her prohibitory 
system. 

But, is it true that England is convinced of the impolicy 
of the prohibitory system, and desirous to abandon it? What 
proof have we to that effect? We are asked to reject the 
evidence deducible from the settled and steady practice of 
England, and to take lessons in a school of philosophical 
writers, whose visionary theories are no where adopted; or, 
if adopted, bring with them inevitable distress, impoverish- 
ment and ruin. Let us hear the testimony of an illustrious 
personage, entitled to the greatest attention, because he 
speaks after the full experiment of the urestrictive system 
made in his own empire. I hope I shall give no offence in 
quoting from a publication issued from " the mint of Phi- 
ladelphia;" from a work of Mr. Carey, of whom I seize, 
with great pleasure, the occasion to say, that he merits the 
public gratitude, for the disinterested diligence with which 
he has collected a large mass of highly useful facts, and for 
the clear and convincing reasoning with which he generally 
illustrates them. The emperor of Russia, in March, 1822, 
after about two years trial of the free system, says, through 
count Nesselrode: 

" To produce happy effects, the principles of commercial 
freedom must be generally adopted. The state which adopts^ 
xvhilst others reject them^ must condemn its own industry 
and commerce to pay a ruinous tribute to those of other na- 
tions.^'' 

" From a circulation exempt from restraint, and the fa- 
cility afforded by reciprocal exchanges, almost all the go- 
vernments at first resolved to seek the means of repairing 
the evil which Europe had been doomed to suffer; but 
experience, and more correct calculations^ because they were 
made from certain data^ and upon the results already knoxon 
of the peace that had just taken place, forced them soon to 
adhere to the prohibitory system, 

'■*• Engla7id preserved hers. Austria remained faithf id to 
the rule she had laid down, to guard herself against the ri- 



302 ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

valship of foreign industry, France^ with the same views ^ 
adopted the most rigorous measures of precaution. And Prus- 
sia published a new tariff in October last^ which proves that 
she found it impossible not to follow the example of the rest 
of Europe.''^ 

" In proportion as the prohibitory system is extended and 
rendered perfect in other countries, that state which pursues 
the contrary system, makes, from day to day^ sacrifices more 
extensive and more considerable. ^ * ^ ft of 
fers a contijiual encouragement to the manufactures of other 
countries — and its own manufactures perish in the struggle 
which they ai-e, as yet, unable to maintain. 

" It is with the most lively feelings of regret we acknow- 
ledge it is our own proper experience which enables us to 
trace this picture. The evils xvhich it details have been 
realized in Russia and Poland, since the conclusion of the 
act of the 7 — 19 of December, 1818. Agriculture without 

A IVIARKET, INDUSTRY WITHOUT PROTECTION, LANGUISH 
AND DECLINE. SPEClE IS EXPORTED, AND THE MOST SOLID 

COMMERCIAL HOUSES ARE SHAKEN. The public prosperity 
would soon feel the wound inflicted on private fortunes, if 
new regulations did not promptly change the actual state of 
affairs. 

'"''Events have proved that our agriculture and our 
COMMERCE, as xvcll as our manufacturing industry, are 
not only paralyzed, but brought to the brink of ruin." 

The example of Spain has been properly referred to, as 
affording a striking proof of the calamities which attend a 
state that abandons the care of its own internal industry. 
Her prosperity was greatest when the arts, brought there 
by the Moors, flourished most in that kingdom. Then she 
received from England her wool, and returned it in the 
manufactured state; and then England was least prospe- 
rous- The two nations have reversed conditions. Spain, 
after the discovery of America, yielding to an inordinate 
passion for the gold of the Indies, sought in their mines 
that wealth which might have been better created at home. 
Can the remarkable difference in the state of the prosperity 
of the two countries be otherwise explained, than by the 
opposite systems which they pursued? England, by a se- 
dulous attention to her home industry, supplied the means 
of an advantageous commerce with her colonies. Spain, by 
an utter neglect of her domestic resources, confided alto- 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 303 

gether in those which she derived from her colonies, and 
presents an instance of the greatest adversity. Her colonies 
were infinitely more valuable than those of England; and, 
if she had adopted a similar policy, is it unreasonable to 
suppose that, in wealth and power, she would have surpas- 
sed that of England? I think the honorable gentleman from 
Virginia, does great injustice to the catholic religion, in 
specifying that as one of the leading causes of the decline 
of Spain. It is a religion entitled to great respect; and there 
is nothing in its character incompatible with the highest 
degree of national prosperity. Is not France, the most po- 
lished, in many other respects the most distinguished state 
of Christendom, catholic? Is not Flanders, the most popu- 
lous part of Europe, also catholic? Are the catholic parts 
of Switzerland and of Germany less prosperous than those 
which are protestant? 

10. The next objection of the honorable gentleman from 
Virginia, which I shall briefly notice, is, that the manufac- 
turing system is adverse to the genius of our government, 
in its tendency to the accumulation of large capitals in a 
few hands; in the corruption of the public morals, which is 
alleged to be incident to it; and in the consequent danger 
to the public liberty. The first part of the objection would 
apply to every lucrative business, to commerce, to planting, 
and to the learned professions. Would the gentleman in- 
troduce the system of Lycurgus? If his principle be cor- 
rect, it should be extended to any and every vocation which 
had a similar tendency. The enormous fortunes in cur 
country — the nabobs of the land — have been chiefly made 
by the profitable pursuit of that foreign commerce, in more 
propitious times, which the honorable gentleman would so 
carefully cherish. Immense estates have also been made in 
the south. The dependents are, perhaps, not more nume- 
rous upon that wealth which is accumulated in manufac- 
tures, than they are upon that which is acquired by com- 
merce and by agriculture. We may safely confide in the 
laws of distributions, and in the absence of the rule of pri- 
mogeniture, for the dissipation, perhaps too rapid, of large 
fortunes. What has become of those which were held two 
or three generations back in Virginia? Many of the de- 
scendants of the ancient aristocracy, as it was called, of that 
state, are now in the most indigent condition. The best se- 
curity against the demoralization of society, is the constant 



304 ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

and profitable emplovment of its members. The greatest 
danger to public liberty is from idleness and vice. If ma- 
nufactures form cities, so does commerce. And the disor- 
ders and violence which proceed from the contagion of the 
passions, are as frequent in one description of those com- 
munities as in the other. There is no doubt but that the 
yeomanr}' of a country is the safest depository of public li- 
berty. In all time to come, and under any probable direc- 
tion of the labor of our population, the agricultural class must 
be much the most numerous and powerful, and will ever 
retain, as it ought to retain, a preponderating influence in 
our councils. The extent and the fertility of our lands con- 
stitute an adequate security against an excess in manufac- 
tures, and also against oppression, on the part of capitalists, 
towards the laboring portions of the community. 

11. The last objection, with a notice of which I shall 
trouble the committee, is, that the constitution does not au- 
thorise the passage of the bill. The gentleman from Vir- 
ginia does not assert, indeed, that it is inconsistent with the 
express provisions of that instrument, but he thinks it in- 
compatible with the spirit of the constitution. If we attempt 
to provide for the internal improvement of the country, the 
constitution, according to some gentlemen, stands in our 
way. If we attempt to protect American industry against 
foreign policy and the rivalry of foreign industry, the con- 
stitution presents an insuperable obstacle. This constitution 
must be a most singular instrument! It seems to be made 
for any other people than our own. Its action is altogether 
foreign. Congress has power to lay duties and imposts, un- 
der no other limitation whatever than that of their being 
uniform throughout the United States. But they can only 
be imposed, according to the honorable gentleman, for the 
sole purpose of revenue. This is a restriction which we do 
not find in the constitution. No doubt revenue was a prin- 
cipal object with the framers of the constitution in investing 
congress with the power. But, in executing it, may not the 
duties and imposts be so laid as to secure domestic inter- 
ests? Or is congress denied all discretion as to the amount 
or the distribution of the duties and imposts? 

The gentleman from Virginia has, however, entirely mis- 
taken the clause of the constitution on which we rely. It is 
that which gives to congress the power to regulate com- 
merce with foreign nations. The grant is plenary, without 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 305 

any limitation whatever, and includes the whole power of 
regulation, of which the subject to be regulated is suscepti- 
ble. It is as full and complete a grant of the power, as that 
is to declare war. What is a regulation of commerce? It 
implies the admission or exclusion of the objects of it, and 
the terms. Under this power some articles, l)y the existing 
laws, are admitted freely; others are subjected to duties so 
high as to amount to their prohibition, and various rates of 
duties are applied to others. Under this power, laws of 
total non-intercourse with some nations, embargoes, pro- 
ducing an entire cessation of commerce with all foreign 
countries, have been, from time to time, passed. These laws, 
I have no doubt, met with the entire approbation of the 
gentleman from Virginia. [Mr. Harbour said that he was 
not in congress.] Wherever the gentleman was, whether on 
his farm or in the pursuit of that profession of which he is 
an ornament, I have no doubt that he gave his zealous sup- 
port to the laws referred to. 

The principle of the system under consideration, has the 
sanction of some of the best and wisest men, in all ages, in 
foreign countries as well as in our own — of the Edwards, 
of Henry the great, of Elizabeth, of the Colberts, abroad; 
of our Franklin, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, at home. 
But it comes recommended to us by a higher authority than 
aay of these, illustrious as they unquestionably are — by the 
master spirit of the age — that extraordinary man, who has 
thrown the Alexanders and the Caesars infinitely farther 
behind him than they stood in advance of the most eminent 
of their predecessors — that singular man, who, whether he 
was seated on his imperial throne, deciding the fate of na- 
tions and allotting kingdoms to the members of his family, 
with the same composure, if not with the same affection, as 
that with which a Virginia father divides his plantations 
among his children, or on the miserable rock of St. Helena, 
to which he was condemned by the cruelty and the injustice 
of his unworthy victors, is equally an object of the most in- 
tense admiration. He appears to have comprehended, with 
the rapidity of intuition, the true interests of a state, and to 
have been able, by the turn of a single expression, to de- 
velop the secret springs of the policy of cabinets. We find 
that Las Cases reports him to have said: 

" He opposed the principles of economists, which he said 
were correct in theory though erroneous in their application, 
Rr 



306 ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

The political constitution of different states, continued Kc, 
must render these principles defective; local circumstances 
continually call for deviations from their uniformity. Du- 
ties, he said, which were so severely condemned by political 
economists, should not, it is true, be an object to the trea- 
sury: they should be the guarantee and protection of a na- 
tion, and should correspond with the nature and the objects 
of its trade. Holland, which is destitute of productions 
and manufactures, and which was a trade only of transit 
and commission, should be free of all fetters and barriers. 
France, on the contrary which is rich in every sort of pro- 
duction and manufactures, should incessantly guard against 
the importations of a rival, who might still continue supe- 
rior to her, and also against the cupidity, egotism, and in- 
difference of mere brokers. 

" I have not fallen into the error of modern systemati- 
zers," said the emperor," who imagine that all the wisdom 
of nations is centered in themselves. Experience is the true 
wisdom of nations. And what does all the reasoning of 
economists amount to? They incessantly extol the prospe- 
rity of England, and hold her up as our model; but the 
custom-house system is more burthensome and arbitrary in 
England than in any other country. They also condemn 
prohibitions; yet it was England set the example of prohi- 
bitions; and they are in fact necessary with regard to certain 
objects. Duties cannot adequately supply the place of pro- 
hibitions: there will always be found means to defeat the 
object of the legislator. In France we are still very far be- 
hind on these delicate points, which are still unperceived 
or ill understood by the mass of society. Yet, what ad- 
vancement have we not made, — what correctness of ideas 
has been introduced I>y my gradual classification of agricul- 
ture, industry, and trade; objects so distinct in themselves, 
and which present so great and positive a graduation! 

" 1st. Agriculture; the soul, the first basis of the empire. 

" 2d. Industry; the comfort and happiness of the popula- 
tion. 

" 3d. Foreign trade; the superabundance, the proper ap- 
plication of the surplus of agriculture and industry. 

"Agriculture was continually improving during the whole 
course of the revolution. Foreigners thought it ruined in 
France. In 1814, however, the English were compelled to 
admit that we had little or nothing to learn from them. 



>s. 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 307 

" Industry or manufactures, and internal trade, made im- 
mense progress during my reign. The application of che- 
mistry to the manufactures caused them to advance with 
giant strides. I gave an impulse, the effects of which ex- 
tended throughout Europe. 

" Foreign trade, which, in its results, is infinitely inferior 
to agriculture, was an object of subordinate importance in 
my mind. Foreign trade is made for agriculture and home 
industry, and not the two latter for the former. The inter- 
ests of these three fundamental cases are diverging and fre- 
quently conflicting. I always promoted them in their natural 
gradation, but I could not and ought not to have ranked 
them all on an equality. Time will unfold what I have done, 
the national resources which I created, and the emancipa- 
tion from the English which 1 brought about. We have now 
the secret of the commercial treaty of 1783. France still 
exclaims against its author; but the English demanded it on 
pain of resuming the war. They wished to do the same 
after the treaty of Amiens; but I was then all-powerful; I 
was a hundred cubits high. I replied that if they were in 
possession of the heights of Montmartre I would still refuse 
to sign the treaty. These words were echoed through Eu- 
rope. 

*' The English will now impose some such treaty on France, 
at least, if popular clamor and the opposition of the mass of 
the nation, do not force them to draw back. This thraldom 
would be an additional disgrace in the eyes of thai nation, 
which is now beginning to acquire a just perception of her 
own interests. 

" When I came to the head of the government, the Ame- 
rican ships, which were permitted to enter our ports on the 
score of their neutrality, brought us raw materials, and had 
the impudence to sail from France without freight, for the 
purpose of taking in cargoes of English goods in London. 
They moreover had the insolence to make their payments, 
when they had any to make, by giving bills on persons in 
London. Hence the vast profits reaped by the English ma- 
nufacturers and brokers, entirely to our prejudice. I made 
a law that no American should import goods to any amount, 
without immediately exporting their exact equivalent. A 
loud outcry was raised against this: it was said that I had 
ruined trade. Butwhat was the consequence? Notwithstand- 
ing the closing of my ports, and in spite of the English, who 



308 ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

ruled the seas, the Americans returned and submitted to 
my regulations. What might I not have done under more 
favorable circumstances? 

" Thus I naturalized in France the manufacture of cotton, 
which includes: — 

" 1st. Spun cotton. — We did not previously spin it our- 
selves; the English supplied us with it as a sort of favor. 

" 2d. The web. — We did not j^et make it; it came to us. 
from abroad. 

" 3d. The printing. — This was the only part of the ma- 
nufacture that we performed ourselves. I wished to natu- 
ralize the two first branches; and I proposed to the council 
of state, that their importation should be prohibited. This 
excited great alarm. I sent for Oberkamp, and I conversed 
with him a long time. I learned from him, that this pro- 
hibition would doubtless produce a shock, but that, after a 
year or two of perseverance, it would prove a triumph, 
whence we should derive immense advantages. Then I 
issued my decree in spite of all: this was a true piece of 
statesmanship. 

" I at first confined myself merely to prohibiting the web; 
then I extended the prohibition to spun cotton; and we now 
possess, within ourselves, the three branches of the cotton 
manufacture, to the great benefit of our population, and the 
injury and regret of the English: which proves that, in civil 
government as well as in war, decision of character is often 
indispensable to success." 

1 will trouble the committee with only one other quo- 
tation, which I shall make from Lowe; and from hearing 
which, the committee must share with me in the mortifica- 
tion which I felt on perusing it. That author says: " It is 
now above forty years since the United States of America 
were definitively separated from us, and since their situation 
has afforded a proof that the benefit of mercantile inter- 
course may be retained, in all its extent, without the care 
of governing, or the expense of defending these once re- 
gretted provinces." Is there not too much truth in this ob- 
servation? By adhering to the foreign policy, which I have 
been discussing, do we not remain essentially British, in 
every thing but the form of our government? Are not our 
interests, our industry, our commerce, so modified as to 
swell British pride, and to increase British power? ■ 

Mr. Chairman, our confederacy comprehends, within its 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 309 

vast limits, great diversity of interests: agricultural, plant- 
ing, farming, commercial, navigating, fishing, manufacturing. 
No one of these interests is felt in the same degree, and 
cherished with the same solicitude, throughout all parts of 
the union. Some of them are peculiar to particular sections 
of our common country. But all these great interests are 
confided to the protection of one government — to the fate 
of one ship; and a most gallant ship it is, with a noble crew- 
If we prosper, and are happy, protection must be extended 
to all; it is due to all. It is the great principle on which 
obedience is demanded from all. If our essential interests 
cannot find protection from our own government against the 
policy of foreign powers, where are they to get it? We did 
not unite for sacrifice, but for preservation. The inquiry 
should be, in reference to the great interests of every sec- 
tion of the union, (I speak not of minute subdivisions,) what 
would be done for those interests if that section stood alone 
and separated from the residue of the republic? If the pro- 
motion of those interests would not injuriously affect any 
other section, then every thing should be done for them, 
which would be done if it fornned a distinct government. 
If they come into absolute collision with the interests of 
another section, a reconciliation, if possible, should be at- 
tempted, by mutual concession, so as to avoid a sacrifice of 
the prosperity of either to that of the other. In such a case 
all should not be done for one which would be done, if it 
were separated and independent, but something; and, in 
devising the measure, the good of each part and of the 
whole should be carefully consulted. This is the only mode 
by which we can preserve, in full vigor, the harmony of the 
whole union. The south entertains one opinion, and ima- 
gines that a modification of the existing policy of the coun- 
try, for the protection of American industry, involves the 
ruin of the south. The north, the east, the west, hold the 
opposite opinion, and feel and contemplate, in a longer ad- 
herence to the foreign policy, as it now exists, their utter 
destruction. Is it true, that the interests of these great sec- 
tions of our country are irreconcilable with each other? Are 
we reduced to the sad and afflicting dilemma of determining 
which shall fall a victim to the prosperity of the other? 
Happily, I think, there is no such distressing alternative. 
If the north, the west, and the east, formed an independent 
state, unassociated with the south, can there be a doubt that 



310 ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

the restrictive system would be carried to the point of pro- 
hibition of every foreign fabric of which they produce the 
raw material, and which they could manufacture? Such 
would be their policy, if they stood alone; but they are for- 
tunately connected with the south, which believes its inter- 
ests to require a free admission of foreign manufactures. 
Here then is a case for mutual concession, for fair compro- 
mise. The bill under consideration presents this compro- 
mise. It is a medium between the absolute exclusion and 
the unrestricted admission of the produce of foreign indus- 
try. It sacrifices the interest of neither section to that of 
the other J neither, it is true, gets all that it wants, nor is 
subject to all that it fears. But it has been said that the 
south obtains nothing in this compromise. Does it lose any 
thing? is the first question. I have endeavored to prove that 
it does not, by showing that a mere transfer is effected in 
the source of the supply of its consumption from Europe 
to America; and that the loss, whatever it may be, of the 
sale of its great staple in Europe, is compensated by the 
new market created in America. But does the south really 
gain nothing in this compromise? The consumption of the 
other sections, though somewhat restricted, is still left open 
by this bill, to foreign fabrics purchased by southern sta- 
ples. So far its operation is beneficial to the south, and 
prejudicial to the industry of the other sections, and that 
is the point of mutual concession. The south will also gain 
by the extended consumption of its great staple, produced 
by an increased capacity to consume it in consequence of 
the establishment of the home market. But the south can- 
not exert its industry and enterprise in the business of ma- 
nufactures! Why not? The difficulties, if not exaggerated, 
are artificial, and may, therefore, be surmounted. But can 
the other sections embark in the planting occupations of the 
south? The obstructions which forbid them are natural, 
created by the immutable laws of God, and, therefore, un- 
conquerable. 

Other and animating considerations invite us to adopt 
the policy of this system. Its importance, in connexion with 
the general defence in time of war, cannot fail to be duly 
estimated. Need I recall to our painful recollection the 
sufferings, for the want of an adequate supply of absolute 
necessaries, to which the defenders of their country's rights 
and our entire population were subjected during the late 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 311 

war? Or to remind the committee of the great advantage 
of a steady and unfailing source of supply, unaffected alike 
in war and in peace? Its importance, in reference to the 
stability of our union, that paramount and greatest of all our 
interests, cannot fail warmly to recommend it, or at least to 
conciliate the forbearance of every patriot bosom. Now our 
people present the spectacle of a vast assemblage of jealous 
rivals, all eagerly rushing to the sea-board, jostling each 
other in their way, to hurry off to glutted foreign markets 
the perishable produce of their labor. The tendency of that 
policy, in conformity to which this bill is prepared, is to 
transform these competitors into friends and mutual custo- 
mers; and, by the reciprocal exchanges of their respective 
productions, to place the confederacy upon the most solid 
of all foundations, the basis of common interest. And is 
not government called upon, by every stimulating motive, 
to adapt its policy to the actual condition and extended 
growth of our great republic. At the commencement of 
our constitution, almost the whole population of the United 
States was confined between the Alleghany mountains and 
the Atlantic ocean. Since that epoch, the western part of 
New York, of Pennsylvania, of Virginia, all the western 
states and territories, have been principally peopled. Prior 
to that period we had scarcely any interior. An interior has 
sprung up, as it were by enchantment, and along with it 
new interests and new relations, requiring the parental pro- 
tection of government. Our policy should be modified ac- 
cordingly, so as to comprehend all, and sacrifice none. And 
are we not encouraged by the success of past experience, in 
respect to the only article which has been adequately pro- 
tected? Already have the predictions of the friends of the 
American system, in even a shorter time than their most 
sanguine hopes could have anticipated, been completely re- 
alized in regard to that article; and consumption is nov/ 
better and cheaper supplied with coarse cottons, than it 
was under the prevalence of the foreign system. 

Even if the benefits of the policy were limited to certain 
sections of our country, would it not be satisfactory to be- 
hold American industry, wherever situated, active, ani- 
mated, and thrifty, rather than persevere in a course which 
renders us subservient to foreign industry? But these be- 
nefits are two fold, direct and collateral, and, in the one 
shape or the other, they will diifuse themselves throughout 



312 ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

the union. All parts of the union will participate, more or 
less, in both. As to the direct benefit, it is probable that 
the north and the east will enjoy the largest share. But the 
west and the south will also participate in them. Philadel- 
phia, Baltimore, and Richmond, will divide with the north- 
ern capitals the business of manufacturing. The latter city 
unites more advantages for its successful prosecution than 
any other place I know; Zanesville, in Ohio, only excepted. 
And where the direct benefit does not accrue, that will be 
enjoyed of supplying the raw material and provisions for 
the consumption of artizans. Is it not most desirable to 
put at rest and prevent the annual recurrence of this un- 
pleasant subject, so well fitted by the various interests to 
which it appeals, to excite irritation and to produce discon- 
tent? Can that be effected by its rejection? Behold the mass 
of petitions which lie on our table, earnestly and anxiously 
intreating the protecting interposition of congress against 
the ruinous policy which we are pursuing. Will these peti- 
tioners, comprehending all orders of society, entire states 
and communities, public companies and private individuals, 
spontaneously assembling, cease in their humble prayers by 
your lending a deaf ear? Can you expect that these peti- 
tioners, and others, in countless numbers, that will, if you 
delay the passage of this bill, supplicate your mercy, should 
contemplate their substance gradually withdrawn to foreign 
countries, their ruin slow, but certain and as inevitable as 
death itself, without one expiring effort? You think the 
measure injurious to youj we believe our preservation de- 
pends upon its adoption. Our convictions, mutually honest, 
are equally strong. What is to be done? I invoke that saving 
spirit of mutual concession under which our blessed consti- 
tution was formed, and under which alone it can be happily 
administered. I appeal to the south — to the high-minded, 
generous, and patriotic south — with which I have so often 
co-operated, in attempting to sustain the honor and to vin- 
dicate the rights of our country. Should it not offer, upon 
the altar of the public good, some sacrifice of its peculiar 
opinions? Of what does it complain? A possible temporary 
enhancement in the objects of consumption. Of what do we 
complain? A total incapacity, produced by the foreign po- 
licy, to purchase, at any price, necessary foreign objects of 
consumption. In such an alternative, inconvenient only to 
it, ruinous to us, can we expect too much from southern 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY, 3 IS 

magnanimity? The just and confident expectation of the 
passage of this bill has flooded the country with recent im- 
portations of foreign fabrics. If it should not pass, they 
will complete the work of destruction of our domestic in- 
dustry. If it should pass, they will prevent any considera- 
ble rise in the price of foreign commodities, until our own 
incustry shall be able to supply competent substitutes. 

To the friends of the tariff, I would also anxiously appeal. 
Every arrangement of its provisions does not suit each of 
youi you desire some further alterations; you would make 
it pe'-fect. You want what you will never get. Nothing 
human is perfect. And I have seen, with great surprise, a 
piece signed by a member of congress, published in the 
National Intelligencer, stating that this bill must be rejected, 
and a judicious tariff brought in as its substitute. A judi- 
cious tariff! No member of congress could have signed that 
piece; or, if he did, the public ought not to be deceived. If 
this bill do not pass, unquestionably no other can pass at 
this session, or probably during this congress. And who 
will go home and say that he rejected all the benefits of this 
bill, becauae molasses has been subjected to the enormous 
additional duty of five cents per gallon? I call, therefore, 
upon the friends of the American policy, to yield somewhat 
of their own peculiar wishes, and not to reject the practica- 
ble in the idle pursuit after the unattainable. Let us imitate 
the illustrious example of the framers of the constitution, 
and, always remembering that whatever springs from man 
partakes of his imperfections, depend upon experience to 
suggest, in future, the necessary amendments. 

VVe have had great difficulties to encounter. — 1. The 
splendid talents which are arrayed in this house against us. 

2. We are opposed by the rich and powerful in the land. 

3. The executive government, if any, affords us but a cold 
and equivocal support. 4. The importing and navigating 
interest, I verily believe from misconception, are adverse to 
us. 5. The British factors and the British influence are in- 
imical to our success. 6. Long established habits and preju- 
dices oppose us. 7 . The reviewers and literary speculators, 
foreign and domestic. And, lastly, the leading presses of the 
country, including the influence of that which is established 
in this city, and sustained by the public purse. 

From some of these, or other causes, the bill may be 
postponed, thwarted, defeated. But the cause is the cause 
Ss 



314 ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

of the country, and it must and will prevail. It is founded 
in the interests and affections of the people. It is as natire 
as the granite deeply imbosomed in our mountains. And, 
in conclusion, I would pray God, in his infinite mercy, to 
avert from our country the evils which are impending over 
it, and, by enlightening our councils, to conduct us into that 
path which leads to riches, to greatness, to glory. 



APPENDIX, 



ON THE COLONIZATION OF THE NEGROES. 

Speech before the American Colonization Society^ in the hall 
of the House of Representatives^ January 20, 1827, with 
the documents therein referred to, 

Mr. Clay rose. I cannot (said he) withhold the expres- 
sion of my congratulations to the society on account of the 
very valuable acquisition which we have obtained in the el- 
oquent gentleman from Boston, (Mr. Knapp,) who has just 
before favored us with an address. He has told us of his 
original impressions, unfavorable to the object of the soci- 
ety, and of his subsequent conversion. If the same indus- 
try, investigation and unbiassed judgment, which he and 
another gentleman, (Mr. Powell,) who avowed at the last 
meeting of the society, a similar change wrought in his mind, 
were carried, by the public at large, into the consideration 
of the plan of the society, the conviction of its utility would 
be universal. 

I have risen to submit a resolution, in behalf of which I 
would bespeak the favour of the society. But before I offer 
any observations in its support, I must say that, whatever 
part I shall take in the proceedings of this society, whatev- 
er opinions or sentiments I may utter, they are exclusively 
my own. Whether they are worth any thing or not, no one 
but myself is at all responsible for them. I have consulted 
with no person out of this society; and I have especially ab- 
stained from all communication or consultation with any one 
to whom I stand in any official relation. My judgment on 
the object of this society has been long since deliberately 
formed. The conclusions to which, after much and anxious 
consideration, my mind has been brought, have been neither 
produced nor refuted by the official station the duties of 
which have been confided to me. 

From the origin of this society, every member of it has, 
I believe, looked forward to the arrival of a period, when 
it would become necessary to invoke the public aid in the 
execution of the great scheme which it was instituted to 
promote. Considering itself as the mere pioneer in the cause 



316 ON THE COLONIZATION 

which it had undertaken, it was well aware that it could d» 
no more than remove preliminary difficulties and point out 
a sure road to ultimate success; and that the public only 
could supply that regular, steady, and efficient support, to 
which the gratuitous means of benevolent individuals would 
be found incompetent. My surprise has been that the soci- 
ety has been able so long to sustain itself, and to do so much 
upon the charitable contributions of good and pious and en- 
lightened men, whom it has happily found in all parts of 
our country. But our work has so prospered, and grown 
under our hands, that the appeal to the power and resour- 
ces of the public should be no longer deferred. The resolu- 
tion which I have risen to propose contemplates this appeal. 
It is in the following words: — 

*' Resolved^ that the board of managers be empowered and 
directed, at such time or times as may seem to them expe- 
dient, to make lespectful application to the congress of the 
United States, and to the legislatures of the different states, 
for such pecuniary aid, in furtherance of the object of this 
society, as thev may respectively be pleased to grant." 

In soliciting the countenance and support of the legisla- 
tures of the union and the states, it is incumbent on the so- 
ciety, in making out its case, to show, first — that it offers to 
their consideration a scheme which is practicable — and se- 
cond — that the execution of the practicable scheme, partial 
or entire, will be fraught with such beneficial consequences 
as to merit the support which is solicited. I believe bi)th 
points to be maintainable. First. — It is now a little upwards 
of ten years since a religious, amiable and benevolent resi- 
dent* of this city, first conceived the idea of planting a 
colony, from the United States, of free people of colour, 
on the western shores of Africa. He is no more, and the 
noblest eulogy which could be pronounced on him would be 
to inscribe upon his tomb, the merited epitaph — " Here lies 

* It has been, since the delivery of the speech, suggested that the 
Rev. Robert Finley, of New Jersey, (who is also unfortunately dead,) 
contemplated the formation of a society, with a view to the establishment 
of a colony in Africa, and probably first commenced the project. It is 
quite likely that he did; and Mr. Clay recollects seeing Mr. Finley and 
consulting with him on the subject, about the period of the formation of 
the society. But the allusion to Mr. Caldwell was founded on the facts 
well known to Mr. Clay of his active agency in the organization of the 
society, and his unremitted subsequent labours, which were not coofined 
to the District of Columbia, in promoting the cause. 



OF THE NEGROES. 317 

the projector of the American Colonization Society." 
Amongst others, to whom he communicated the project, 
was the person who now has the honour of addressing, you. 
My first impressions, like those of all who have not fully 
investigated the subject, were against it. They yielded to 
his earnest persuasions and my own reflections, and 1 final- 
ly agreed with him that the experiment was worthy of a 
fair trial. A meeting of its friends was called — organized 
as a deliberative body, and a constitution was formed. The 
society went into operation. He lived to see the most en- 
couraging progress in its exertions, and died in full confi- 
dence of its complete success. The society was scarcely 
formed before it was exposed to the derision of the unthink- 
ing; pronounced to be visionary and chimerical by those who 
were capable of adopting wiser opinions, and the most con- 
fident predictions of its entire failure were put forth. It 
found itself equally assailed by the two extremes of public 
sentiment in regard to our African population. According 
to one, (that rash class which, without a due estimate of the 
fatal consequence, would forthwith issue a decree of gene- 
ral, immediate, and indiscriminate emancipation,) it was a 
scheme of the slave holder to perpetuate slavery. The other 
(that class which believes slavery a blessing, and which trem- 
bles with aspen sensibility at the appearance of the most dis- 
tant and ideal danger to the tenure by which that descrip- 
tion of property is held,) declared it a contrivance to let 
loose on society all the slaves of the country, ignorant, un- 
educated, and incapable of appreciating the value, or enjoy- 
ing the privileges of freedom.* The society saw itself sur- 
rounded by every sort of embarrassment. What great hu- 
man enterprize was ever undertaken without difficulty? 
What ever failed, within the compass of human power, 
when pursued with perseverance and blessed by the smiles 
of Providence? The society prosecuted undismayed its great 
work, appealing for succour to the moderate, the reasonable, 
the virtuous, and religious portions of the public. It pro- 
tested, from the commencement, and throughout all its pro- 
gress, and it now protests, that it entertains no purpose, on 
its own authority or by its own means, to attempt emanci- 
pation partial or general; that it knows the general govern- 

* A society of a few individuals, without power, without other resour- 
ces than those which are supplied by spontaneous benevolence, to eman- 
cipate all the slaves of the country! 



318 ON THE COLONIZATION, 

ment has no constitutional power to achieve such an object; 
that it believes that the states, and the states only, which 
tolerate slavery, can accomplish the work of emancipation; 
and that it ought to be left to them, exclusively, absolutely, 
and voluntarily, to decide the question. 

The object of the society was the colonization of the free 
coloured people, not the slaves, of the country. Voluntary 
in its institution, voluntary in its continuance, voluntary in 
all its ramifications, all its means, purposes, and instruments 
are also voluntary. But it was said that no free coloured 
persons could be prevailed upon to abandon the comforts of 
civilized life and expose themselves to all the perils of a set- 
tlement in a distant, inhospitable and savage country; that, 
if they could be induced to go on such a quixotic expedi- 
tion, no territory could be procured for their establishment 
as a colony; that the plan was altogether incompetent to ef- 
fectuate its professed object; and that it ought to be reject- 
ed as the idle dream of visionary enthusiasts. The society 
has outlived, thank God, all these disastrous predictions. It 
has survived to swell the list of false prophets. It is no 
longer a question of speculation whether a colony can or 
cannot be planted from the United States of free persons of 
colour on the shores of Africa. It is a matter demonstra- 
ted; such a colony, in fact, exists, prospers, has made suc- 
cessful war, and honorable peace, and transacts all the mul- 
tiplied business of a civilized and Christian community.* 
It now has about five hundred souls, disciplined troops, 
forts, and other means of defence, sovereignty over an ex- 
tensive territory, and exerts a powerful and salutary influ- 
ence over the neighbouring clans. 

Numbers of the free African race among us are willing 
to go to Africa. The society has never experienced any 
difficulty on that subject, except that its means of comforta- 
ble transportation have been inadequate to accommodate all 
who have been anxious to migrate. Why should they not 
go? Here they are in the lowest state of social gradation — 
aliens — political — moral—social aliens, strangers, though na- 
tives. There, they would be in the midst of their friends 
and their kindred, at home, though born in a foreign land, 
and elevated above the natives of the country, as much as 
they are degraded here below the other classes of the com- 

* See the last annual report and the highly interesting historical sketch 
of the Rev. Mr. Ashraun. 



OF THE NEGROES. 319 

inunity. But on this matter, I am happy to have it in my 
power to furnish indisputable evidence from the most au- 
thentic source, that of large numbers of free persons of co- 
lour themselves. Numerous meetings have been held in se- 
veral churches in Baltimore, of the free people of colour, 
in which, after being organized as deliberative assemblies, 
by the appointment of a chairman (if not of the same com- 
plexion) presiding as you, Mr. Vice-president, do, and sec- 
retaries, they have voted memorials addressed to the white 
people, in which they have argued the question with an abili- 
ty, moderation, and temper, surpassing any that I can com- 
mand, and emphatically recommended the colony of Libe- 
ria to favorable consideration, as the most desirable and 
practicable scheme ever yet presented on this interesting 
subject. I ask permission of the society to read this highly 
creditable document. 

[Here Mr. Clay read the memorial referred to.] 
The society has experienced no difficulty in the acquisition 
of a territory, upon reasonable terms, abundantly sufficient 
for a most extensive colony. And land in ample quantities, 
it has ascertained, can be procured in Africa, together with 
all rights of sovereignty, upon conditions as favorable as 
those on which the United States extinguish the Indian title 
to territory within their own limits. 

In respect to the alleged incompetency of the scheme to 
accomplish its professed object, the society asks that that 
object should be taken to be, not what the imaginations of 
its enemies represent it to be, but what it really proposes. 
They represent that the purpose of the society is to export 
the whole African population of the United States, bond 
and free; and they pronounce this design to be unattainable. 
They declare that the means of the whole country are in- 
sufficient to effect the transportation to Africa of a mass of 
population approximating to two millions of souls. Agreed; 
but that is not what the society contemplates. They have 
substituted their own notion for that of the society. What 
is the true nature of the evil of the existence of a portion 
of the African race in our population? It is not that there 
are some^ but that there are so many among us of a differ- 
ent caste, of a different physical, if not moral, constitution, 
who never can amalgamate with the great body of our pop- 
ulation. In every country, persons are to be found varying 
in their colour, origin, and character, from the native mass. 



320 ON THE COLONIZATION 

But this anomaly creates no inquietude or apprehension, 
because the exotics, from the smallness of their number, 
are known to be utterly incapable of disturbing the general 
tranquillity. Here, on the contrary, the African part of our 
population bears so large a proportion to the residue, of Eu- 
ropet-n origin, as to create the most lively apprehension, es- 
pecially in some quarters of the union. Any project, there- 
fore, by which, in a material degrte, the dangerous element 
in the general mass, can be diminished or rendered station* 
ary, deserves deliberate consideration. 

The colonization society has never imagined it to be prac- 
ticable, or within the reach of any means which the several 
governments of the union could bring to bear on the sub- 
ject, to transport the whole of the African race within the 
limits of the United States. Nor is that necessary to accom- 
plish the desirable objects of domestic tranquillity, and ren- 
der us one homogeneous people. The population of the 
United States has been supposed to duplicate in periods of 
twenty-five years. That may have been the case heretofore, 
but the terms of duplication will be more and more protract- 
ed as we advance in national age; and I do not believe that 
it will be found, in any period to come, that our numbers 
will be doubled in a less term than one of about thirty-three 
and a third years. I have not time to enter now into details 
in support of this opinion. They would consist of those 
checks which experience has shown to obstruct the progress 
of population, arising out of its actual augmentation and den- 
sity, the settlement of waste lands, &c. Assuming the peri- 
od of thirty-three and a third, or any other number of years, 
to be that in which our population will hereafter be doubled, 
if, during that whole term, the capital of the African stock 
could be kept down, or stationary, whilst that of European 
origin should be left to an unobstructed increase, the result, 
at the end of the term, would be most propitious. — Let us 
suppose, for example, that the whole population at present 
of the United States, is twelve millions, of which ten may 
be estimated of the Anglo-Saxon, and two of the African 
race. If there could be annually transported from the Uni- 
ted States an amount of the African portion equal to the 
annual increase of the whole of that caste, whilst the Euro- 
pean race should be left to multiply, we should find at the 
termination of the period of duplication, whatever it may 
be, that the relative proportions would be as twenty to two. 



OF THE NEGROES. 321 

And if the process were continued, during a second term 
of duplication, the proportion would be as forty to two — 
one which would eradicate every cause of alarm or solici- 
tude from the breasts of the most timid. But the transpor- 
tation of Africans, by creating, to the extent to which it 
might be carried, a vacuum in society, would tend to accel- 
erate the duplication of the European race, who, by all the 
laws of population, would fill up the void space. 

This society is well aware, I repeat, that they cannot touch 
the subject of slavery. But it is no objection to their scheme, 
limited as it is exclusively to those free people of colour 
who are willing to migrate, that it admits of indefinite ex- 
tension and application, by those who alone, having the com- 
petent authority, may choose to adopt and apply it. Our 
object has been to point out the way, to show that coloniza- 
tion is practicable, and to leave it to those states or indivi- 
duals, who may be pleased to engage in the object, to pro- 
secute it. We have demonstrated that a colony may be 
planted in Africa, by the fact that an American colony there 
exists. The problem which has so long and so deeply inter- 
ested the thoughts of good and patriotic men, is solved — 
a country and a home have been found, to which the Afri- 
can race may be sent, to the promotion of their happiness 
and our own. 

But, Mr. Vice-President, I shall not rest contented with 
the fact of the establishment of the colony, conclusive as it 
ought to be deemed, of the practicability of our purpose. 
I shall proceed to show, by reference to indisputable statis- 
tical details and calculations, that it is within the compass 
of reasonable human means. I am sensible of the tedious- 
ness of all arithmetical data, but I will endeavour to sim- 
plify them as much as possible. — It will be borne in mind 
that the aim of the society is to establish in Africa a colo- 
ny of the free African population of the United States; to 
an extent which shall be beneficial both to Africa and Ame- 
rica. The whole free coloured population of the United 
States amounted in 1790, to fifty-nine thousand four hun- 
dred and eighty-one; in 1800, to one hundred and ten thou- 
sand and seventy-two; in 1810, to one hundred and eighty- 
six thousand four hundred and forty-six; and in 1820, to 
two hundred and thirty-three thousand five hundred and 
thirty. The ratio of annual increase during the first term 
Tt 



322 ON THE COLONIZATION 

of ten years, was about eight and a half per cent per annum; 
> during the second, about seven per cent per annum; and dur- 
ing the third, a litde more than two and a half. The very- 
great difference in the rate of annual increase, during those 
several terms, may probably be accounted for by the effect 
of the number of voluntary emancipations operating with 
more influence upon the total smaller amount of free colour- 
ed persons at the first of those periods, and by the facts of 
the insurrection in St- Domingo, and the acquisition of Lou- 
isiana, both of which, occurring during the first and second 
terms, added considerably to the number of our free colour- 
ed population. 

Of all descriptions of our population, that of the free 
coloured, taken in the aggregate, is the least prolific, be- 
cause of the checks arising from vice and want. During 
the ten years, between 1810 and 1820, when no extraneous 
causes existed to prevent a fair competition in the increase 
between the slave and the free African race, the former in- 
creased at the rate of nearly three per cent per annum, 
whilst the latter did not much exceed two and a half. Here- 
after it may be safely assumed, and I venture to predict will 
not be contradicted by the return of the next census, that 
the increase of the free black population will not surpass 
two and a half per cent per annum. Their amount at the 
last census, being two hundred and thirty-three thousand 
five hundred and thirty, for the sake of round numbers, 
their annual increase may be assumed to be six thousand, 
at the present time. Now if this number could be annually 
transported from the United States during a term of years, 
it is evident that, at the end of that term, the parent capi- 
tal will not have increased, but will have been kept down 
at least to what it was at the commencement of the term. 
Is it practicable then to colonize annually six thousand per- 
sons from the United States, without materially impairing 
or affecting any of the great interests of the United States? 
This is the question presented to the judgments of the le- 
gislative authorities of our country. This is the whole 
scheme of the society. From its actual experience, derived 
from the expenses which have been incurred in transporting 
the persons already sent to Africa, the entire average ex- 
pense of each colonist, young and old, including passage 
money and subsistence, may be stated at twenty dollars per 
head. There is reason to believe that it may be reduced 



OF THE NEGROES. 323 

considerably below that sum. Estimating that to be the ex- 
pense, the total cost of transporting six thousand souls, an- 
nually to Africa, would be one hundred and twenty-thousand 
dollars. The tonnage requisite to effect the object, calculat- 
ing two persons to every five tons (which is the provision 
of existing law) would be fifteen thousand tons. But as 
each vessel couid probably make two voyages in the year, 
it may be reduced to seven thousand five hundred. And as 
both our mercantile and military marine might be occasion- 
ally employed on this collateral service, without injury to 
the main object of the voyage, a further abatement might 
be safely made in the aggregate amount of the necessary 
tonnage. The navigation concerned in the commerce be- 
tween the colony and the United States, (and it already be- 
gins to supply subjects of an interesting trade,) might be 
incidentally employed to the same end. 

Is the annual expenditure of a sum no larger than one 
hundred and twenty thousand dollars, and the annual em- 
ployment of seven thousand five hundred tons of shipping, 
too much for reasonable exertion, considering the magni- 
tude of the object in view? Are they not, on the contrary, 
within the compass of moderate efforts? 

Here is the whole scheme of the society — a project which 
has been pronounced visionary by those who have never giv- 
en themselves the trouble to examine it, but to which I be- 
lieve most unbiassed men will yield their cordial assent, af- 
ter they have investigated it. 

Limited as the project is, by the society, to a colony to 
be formed by the free and unconstrained consent of free 
persons of colour, it is no objection, but on the contrary, a 
great recommendation of the plan, that it admits of being 
taken up and applied on a scale of much more comprehen- 
sive utility. The society knows, and it affords just cause of 
felicitation, that all or any one of the states which tolerate 
slavery may carry the scheme of colonization into effect, in 
regard to the slaves within their respective limits, and thus 
ultimately rid themselves of an universally acknowledged 
curse. — A reference to the results of the several enumera- 
tions of the population of the United States will incontes- 
tibly prove the practicability of its application on the more 
extensive scale. The slave population of the United States 
amounted in 1790, to six hundred and ninety- seven thou- 
sand, six hundred and ninety-seven; in 1800, to eight hun- 



324 ON THE COLONIZATION 

dred and ninety-six thousand, eight hundred and forty-ninej 
in 1810, to eleven hundred and ninety-one thousand, three 
hundred and sixty-four; and in 1820, to fifteen hundred and 
thirty-eight thousand, one hundred and twenty-eight. The 
rate of annual increase, (rejecting fractions and taking the 
integer to which they make the nearest approach,) during 
the first term of ten years was not quite three per centum per 
annum, during the second, a little more than three per cen- 
tum per annum, and during the third, a little less than three 
per centum.* The mean ratio of increase for the whole pe- 
riod of thirty years was very little more than three per cen- 
tum per annum. During the first two periods, the native 
stock was augmented by importations from Africa in those 
states which continued to tolerate them, and by the acquisi- 
tion of Louisiana. Virginia, to her eternal honour, abolish- 
ed the abominable traffic among the earliest acts of her self- 
government. The last term alone presents the natural increase 
of the capital unaflTected by any extraneous causes. That 
authorizes, as a safe assumption, that the future increase 
will not exceed three per centum per annum. As our pop- 
ulation increases the value of slave labour will diminish, 
in consequence of the superior advantages in the employ- 
ment of free labour. And when the value of slave labour 
shall be materially lessened either by the multiplication of 
the supply of slaves beyond the demand, or by the compe- 
tition between slave and free labour, the annual increase of 
slaves will be reduced, in consequence of the abatement of 
the motives to provide for and rear the offspring. 

Assuming the future increase to be at the rate of three 
per centum per annum, the annual addition to the number of 
slaves in the United States, calculated upon the return of 
the last census (one million five hundred and thirty-eight 
thousand, one hundred and twenty-eight) is forty-six thou- 
sand. Applying the data which have been already stated 
and explained, in relation to the colonization of free per- 
sons of colour from the United States to Africa, to the ag- 
gregate annual increase both bond and free of the African 
race, and the result will be found most encouraging. The 
total number of the annual increase of both descriptions is 
fifty-two thousand. The total expense of transporting that 
number to Africa, (supposing no reduction of present pri- 

* See a table io page 339. 



OF THE NEGROES. 325 

ces) would be one million and forty thousand dollars, and 
the requisite amount of tonnage would be only one hundred 
and thirty thousand tons of shipping, about one-ninth part 
of the mercantile marine of the United States. Upon the 
supposition of a vessel's making two voyages in the year, 
it would be reduced to one half, sixty-five thousand. And 
this quantity would be still further reduced, by embracing 
opportunities of incidental employment of vessels belong- 
ing both to the mercantile and military marines. 

But, is the annual application of one million and forty 
thousand dollars, and the employment of sixty-five or even 
one hundred and thirty thousand tons of shipping, consider- 
ing the magnitude of the object, beyond the ability of this 
country? Is there a patriot, looking forward to its domestic 
quiet, its happiness and its glory, that would not cheerfully 
contribute his proportion of the burthen to accomplish a 
purpose so great and so humane? During the general contin- 
uance of the African slave trade, hundreds of thousands of 
slaves have been, in a single year, imported into the several 
countries whose laws authorized their admission. Notwith- 
standing the vigilance of the powers now engaged to sup- 
press the slave trade, I have received information, that in a 
single year, in the single island of Cuba, slaves equal in 
amount to one-half of the above number of fifty-two thous- 
and, have been illicitly introduced. Is it possible that those 
who are concerned in an infamous traffic can effect more 
than the states of this union, if they were seriously to engage 
in the good work? Is it credible — is it not a libel upon hu- 
man nature to suppose, that the triumphs of fraud and 
violence and iniquity, can surpass those of virtue and be- 
nevolence and humanity? 

The population of the United States being, at this lime, 
estimated at about ten millions of the European race, and 
two of the African, on the supposition of the annual colo- 
nization of a number of the latter equal to the annual in- 
creasci of both of its classes, during the whole period ne- 
cessary to the process of duplication of our numbers, they 
would, at the end of that period, relatively stand twenty 
millions for the white and two for the black portion. But 
an annual exportation of a number equal to the annual in- 
crease, at the beginning of the term, and persevered in to 
the end of it, would accomplish more than to keep the pa- 
rent stock stationary. The colonists would comprehend 



326 ON THE COLONIZATION 

more than an equal proportion of those of the prolific ages. 
Few of those who had passed that age would migrate. So 
that the annual increase of those left behind, would continue 
gradually, but, at first, insensibly, to diminish; and by the 
expiration of the period of duplication it would be found 
to have materially abated. But it is not merely the greater 
relative safety and happiness which would, at the termina- 
tion of that period, be the condition of the whites. Their 
ability to give further stimulus to the cause of coloniza- 
tion will have been doubled, whilst the subjects on which 
it would have to operate, will have decreased or remained 
stationary. If the business of colonization should be regu- 
larly continued during two periods of duplication, at the 
end of the second, the whites would stand to the blacks, as 
forty millions to not more than two, whilst the same ability 
will have been quadrupled. Even if colonization should 
then altogether cease, the proportion of the African to the 
Europe. in race will be so small that the most timid, may 
then, for ever, dismiss all ideas of danger from within or 
without, on account of that incongruous and perilous ele- 
ment in our population. 

Further; by the annual withdrawal of fifty-two thousand 
persons of colour, there would be annual space created for 
an equal number of the white race. The period, therefore, 
of the duplication of the vi^hites, by the laws which govern 
population, would be accelerated. 

Such, Mr. Vice-President, is the project of the society; 
and such is the extension and use which may be made of 
the principle of colonization, in application to our slave 
population, by those states which are alone competent to un- 
dertake and execute it. All, or any one, of the states which 
tolerate slavery may adopt and execute it, by co-operation 
or separate exertion. If I could be instrumental in eradi- 
cating this deepest stain upon the character of our country, 
and removing all cause of reproach on account of it, by fo- 
reign nations — If I could only be instrumental in ridding 
of this foul blot that revered state that gave me birth, or 
that not less beloved state which kindly adopted me as her 
son, I would not exchange the proud satisfaction which I 
should enjoy for the honour of all the triumphs ever de- 
creed to the most successful conqueror. 

Having [ hope shov^n that the plan of the society is not 
visionary, but rational and practicable; that a colony does in 



OP THE NEGROES. 327 

fact exist, planted under its auspices; that free people are 
willing and anxious to go; and that the right of soil as well 
as of sovereignty may be acquired in vast tracts of coun- 
try in Africa, abundantly sufficient for all the purposes of 
the most ample colony, and at prices almost only nominal, 
the task which remains to me of showing the beneficial con- 
sequences which would attend the execution of the scheme, 
is comparatively easy. 

Of the utility of a total separation of the two incongru- 
ous portions of our population, supposing it to be practica- 
ble, none have ever doubted. The mode of accomplishing 
that most desirable object, has alone divided public opinion. 
Colonization in Hayti, for a time, had its partisans. With- 
out throwing any impediments in the way of executing that 
scheme, the American colonization society has steadily ad- 
hered to its own. The Haytien project has passed away. 
Colonization beyond the Stony Mountains has sometimes 
been proposed; but it would be attended with an expense 
and difficulties far surpassing the African project, whilst it 
would not unite the same animating motives. There is a 
moral fitness in the idea of returning to Africa her children, 
whose ancestors have been torn from her by the ruthless 
hand of fraud and violence. Transplanted in a foreign land, 
they will carry back to their native soil the rich fruits of 
religion, civilization, law, and liberty. May it not be one of 
the great designs of the Ruler of the universe, (whose ways 
are often inscrutable by short sighted mortals,) thus to trans- 
form an original crime into a signal blessing, to that most 
unfortunate portion of the globe. Of all classes of our 
population, the most vicious is that of the free coloured. It 
is the inevitable result of their moral, political and civil de- 
gradation. Contaminated themselves, they extend their vi- 
ces to all around them, to the slaves and to the whites. If 
the principle of colonization should be confined to them; if 
a colony can be firmly established and successfully continu- 
ed in Africa which should draw off annually an amount of 
that portion of our population equal to its annual increase, 
much good will be done. If the principle be adopted and 
applied by the states, whose laws sanction the existence of 
slavery, to an extent equal to the annual increase of slaves, 
still greater good will be done. This good will be felt by 
the Africans who go, by the Africans who remain, by the 
white population of our country, by Africa and by Ameri- 



328 ON THE COLONIZATION 

ca. It is a project which recommends itself to favour in all 
the aspects in which it can be contemplated. It will do good 
in every and any extent in which it may be executed. It is 
a circle of philanthropy, every segment of which tells and 
testifies to the beneficence of the whole. 

Every emigrant to Africa is a missionary carrying with 
him credentials in the holy cause of civilization, religion, 
and free institutions. Why is it that the degree of success 
of missionary exertions is so limited, and so discouraging 
to those whose piety and benevolence prompt them? Is it 
not because the missionary is generally an alien and a stran- 
ger, perhaps of a different colour, and from a different tribe? 
There is a sort of instinctive feeling of jealousy and dis- 
trust towards foreigners which repels and rejects them in 
all countries; and this feeling is in proportion to the degree 
of ignorance and barbarism which prevail. But the African 
colonists, whom we send to convert the heathen, are of the 
same colour, the same family, the same physical constitu- 
tion. When the purposes of the colony shall be fully un- 
derstood, they will be received as long lost brethren restor- 
ed to the embraces of their friends and their kindred by 
the dispensations of a wise providence. 

The society is reproached for agitating this question. It 
should be recollected that the existence of free people of 
colour is not limited to the states only which tolerate slave- 
ry. The evil extends itself to all the states, and some of 
those which do not allow of slavery, ftheir cities especial- 
ly,) experience the evil in an extent even greater than it ex- 
ists in the slave states. A common evil confers a right to 
consider and apply a common remedy. Nor is it a valid 
objection that this remedy is partial in its operation or dis- 
tant in its efficacy. A patient, writhing under the tortures 
of excruciating disease, asks of his physician to cure him 
if he can, and, if he cannot, to mitigate his sufferings. But 
the remedy proposed, if generally adopted and persevering- 
ly applied, for a sufficient length of time, should it not en- 
tirely eradicate the disease, will enable the body politic to 
bear it without danger and without suffering. 

We are reproached with doing mischief by the agitation 
of this question. The society goes into no household to dis- 
turb its domestic tranquillity; it addresses itself to no slaves 
to weaken their obligations of obedience. It seeks to affect 
no man's property. It neither has the power nor the will to 



OF THE NEGROES. 329 

affect the property of any one contrary to his consent. The 
execution of its scheme would augment instead of diminish- 
ing the value of the property left behind. The society, com- 
posed of free men, concerns itself only with the free. Col- 
lateral consequences we are not responsible for. It is not 
this society which has produced the great moral revolution 
which the age exhibits. What would they, who thus reproach 
us, have done? If they would repress all tendencies towards 
liberty and ultimate emancipation, they must do more than 
put down the benevolent efforts of this society. They must 
go back to the era of our liberty and independence, and 
muzzle the cannon which thunders its annual joyous return. 
They must revive the slave trade, with all its train of atro- 
cities. They must suppress the workings of British philan- 
thropy, seeking to meliorate the condition of the unfortu- 
nate West Indian slaves. They must arrest the career of 
South American deliverance from thraldom. They must 
blow out the moral lights around us, and extinguish that 
greatest torch of all which America presents to a benighted 
world, pointing the way to their rights, their liberties, and 
their happiness. And when they have achieved all these 
purposes, their work will be yet incomplete. They must 
penetrate the human soul, and eradicate the light of reason 
and the love of liberty. Then, and not till then, when uni- 
versal darkness and despair prevail, can you perpetuate 
slavery, and repress all sympathies, and all humane and be- 
nevolent efforts among freemen, in behalf of the unhappy 
portion of our race doomed to bondage. 

Our friends, who are cursed with this greatest of human 
evils, deserve the kindest attention and consideration. Their 
property and their safety are both involved. But the liberal 
and' candid among them will not, cannot, expect that every 
project to deliver our country from it is to be crushed be* 
cause of a possible and ideal danger. 

Animated by the encouragement of the past, let us pro- 
ceed under the cheering prospects which lie before us. Let 
us continue to appeal to the pious, the liberal, and the wise. 
Let us bear in mind the condition of our forefathers, when, 
collected on the beach of England, they embarked, amidst 
the scoffings and the false predictions of the assembled mul- 
titude, for this distant land; and here, in spite of all the pe- 
rils of forest and ocean, which they encountered, success- 
fully laid the foundations of this glorious republic. Un* 
U u 



330. ON THE COLONIZATION OF THE NEGROES. 

dismayed by the prophecies of the presumptuous, let us 
supplicate the aid of the American representatives of the 
people, and redoubling our labours, and invoking the bless- 
ings of an all-wise Providence, I boldly and confidently 
anticipate success. I hope the resolution which I offer will 
be unanimously adopted. 



331 



Extracts from the Report of the board of Managers of the Jlme- 
rican Colonization Society, presented at its annual meeting, 
January A2tth, 1827, read by Mr. Clay in the course of the de- 
livery of the preceding Speech. 

The system of government established with the full consent of the 
colonists, in the autumn of 1824, and which the managers had the hap- 
piness to represent in their last report, as having thus far fulfilled all the 
purposes of its institution, has continued its operations during the year 
without the least irregularity, and with undiminished success. The re- 
publican principle is introduced as far as is consistent with the youthful 
and unformed character of the settlement, and in the election of their 
officers the colonists have evinced such integrity and judgment as afford 
promise of early preparation for all the duties of self-government. " The 
civil prerogatives and government of the colony and the body of the laws 
by which they are sustained," says the colonial agent, " are the pride of 
all. I am happy in the persuasion I have, that I hold the balance of the 
laws in the midst of a people, with whom ttie first perceptible inclination 
of the sacred scale determines authoritatively, their sentiments and their 
conduct. There are individual exceptions, but these remarks extend 
to the body of the settlers." 

The moral and religious character of the colony, exerts a powerful in- 
fluence on its social and civil condition. That piety which had guided 
most of the early emigrants to Liberia, even before they left this coun- 
try, to respectability and usefulness among their associates, (prepared 
them, in laying the foundations of a colony, to act with a degree of wis- 
dom and energy which no earthly motives could inspire. Humble, and 
for the most part unlettered men; born and bred in circumstances the 
most unfavorable to mental culture; unsustained by the hope of renown, 
and unfamiliar with the history of great achievements and heroic virtues, 
their's was nevertheless a spirit unmoved by dangers or by sufferings, 
which misfortunes could not darken, nor death dismay. They left Ameri- 
ca, and felt that it was forever: they landed in Africa, possibly to find a 
home, but certainly a grave. Strange would it have been had the reli- 
gion of every individual of these early settlers proved genuine; but im- 
mensely changed as have been their circumstances and severely tried 
their faith, most have preserved untarnished the honors of their profes- 
sion, and to the purity of their morals and the consistency of their con- 
duct, is in a great measure to be attributed the social order and gene- 
ral prosperity of the colony of Liberia. Their example has proved most 
salutary; and while subsequent emigrants have found tliemselves awed 
and restrained, by their regularity, seriousness and devotion, the poor 
natives have given their confidence and acknowledged the excellence 
of practical Christianity. " It deserves record," says Mr. Ashmun, " that 
religion has been the principal agent employed in laying and confirming 
the foundations of the settlement. To this sentiment ruling, restraining, 
and actuating the minds of a large proportion of (he colonists, must be 
referred the whole strength of our civil government." Examples of in- 
temperance, profaneness or licentiousness, are extremely rare, and vice 



332 ON THE COLONIZATION 

wherever it exists, is obliged to seek concealment from the public eye. 
The Sabbath is universally respected; Sunday schools, both for the chil- 
dren of the colony and for the natives, are established; all classes attend 
regularly upon the worship of God; some charitable associations have 
been formed for the benefit of the heathen; and though it must not be 
concealed, that the deep concern on the subject of religion, which re- 
sulted, towards the conclusion of the year 1825, in the public profession 
of Christianity by about fifty colonists, has in a measure subsided, and 
some few cases of delinquency since occurred; and though there are 
faults growing out of the early condition and habits of the settlers which 
require amendment; yet the managers have reason to believe, that there 
is a vast and increasing preponderance on the side of correct principle 
and virtuous practice. 

The agriculture of the colony, has received less attention than its im- 
portance demands. This is to be attributed to the fact, that the labour 
of the settlers tias been applied to objects conducing more immediately 
to their subsistence and comfort. 

It will not, the board (rust, be concluded that, because more might 
have been done for the agricultural interests of the colony, what has 
been effected is inconsiderable. Two hundred and twenty-four plan- 
tations, of from five to ten acres each, were, in June last, occupied by 
the settlers, and most of them are believed to be at present under culti- 
vation. One hundred and fourteen of these are on cape Montserado, 
thirty-three on Stockton creek, (denominated the halfway farms, because 
nearly equi-distant from Monrovia and Caldwell, the St. Paul's settle- 
ment) and seventy-seven at the confluence of Stockton creek with the 
St. Paul's. 

The St. Paul's territory includes the half-way farms, and is represent- 
ed as a beautiful tract of country, comparatively open, well watered and 
fertile, and still further recommended as having been, for ages, selected 
by the natives on account of its productiveness for their rice and cassa- 
da plantations. The agricultural habits of the present occupants of this 
tract, concur with the advantages of their situation, in affording promise 
of success to their exertions. " Nothing," says the colonial agent, " but 
circumstances of the most extraordinary nature, can prevent them from 
making their way directly to respectability and abundance." 

Oxen were trained to labour in the colony in 1825, and it was then 
expected that the plough would be introduced in the course of another 
year. Although commerce has thus far taken the lead of agriculture, 
yet the excellence of the soil, the small amount of labour, required for 
its cultivalion, and the value and abundance of its products, cannot fail, 
finally, to render the latter the more cherished, as it is, certainly, the 
more important interest of the colony. 

The trade of Liberia has increased with a rapidity almost unexampled, 
and while it has supplied the colonists not only with the necessaries, but 
with the conveniences and comforts of life, the good faith with which it 
has been conducted, has conciliated the friendship of the natives, and 
acquired tlie confidence of foreigners. 

The regulations of the colonv allowing no credits, except by a writ- 
ten permission, and i eouiring the barter-to be carried on through facto- 
ries established for the purpose, has increased the profits of the traffic, 
and prevented numerous evils which must Lave attended upon a more 
unrestricted license. 



OF THE NEGROES. 333 

Between the first of January and the fifteenth of July, 1826, no less 
than fifteen vessels touched at Monrovia and purchased the produce of 
the country, to the amount, according to the best probable estimate, of 
forty-three thousand nine hundred and eighty dollars, African value. 
The exporters of this produce realize, on the sale of the goods given in 
barter for it, a profit of twenty-one thousand nine hundred and ninety 
dollars, and on the freight, of eight thousand seven hundred and eighty- 
six dollars, making a total profit of thirty thousand seven hundred and 
eighty-six dollars. 

A gentleman in Portland has commenced a regular trade with the co- 
lony; and for his last cargo landed in Liberia, amounting to eight thou- 
sand dollars, he received payment in the course of ten days. The ad- 
vantages of this trade to the colony, are manifest from the high price of 
labour, (that of mechanics being two dollars per day, and that of com- 
mon labourers from seventy-five cents to one dollar and twenty-five 
cents,) and from the easy and comfortable circumstances of the settlers. 
" An industrious family, twelve months in Africa, destitute of the means 
of furnishing an abundant table, is not known; and an individual, of 
whatever age or sex, without ample provision of decent apparel, can- 
not, it is believed, be found." " Every family," says Mr. Ashmun, " and 
nearly every single adult person in the colony, has the means of em- 
ploying from one to four native labourers, at an expense of from four to 
six dollars the month; and several of the settlers, when called upon in 
consequence of sudden emergences of the public service, have made 
repeated advances of merchantable produce, to the amount of three 
hundred to six hundred dollars each." 

The managers are happy to state, that the efforts of the colonial agent 
to enlarge the territory of Liberia, and particularly to bring under the 
government of the colony a more extended line of coast, have been ju- 
dicious and energetic, and in nearly every instance resulted in complete 
success. From Cape Mount to Tradetown, a distance of one hundred 
and fifty miles, the colonial government has acquired partial jurisdiction. 
Four of the most important Stations on this tract, including Montse- 
rado, belong to the society, either by actual purchase, or by a deed of 
perpetual lease; and such negociations have been entered upon with the 
chiefs of the country, as amount to a preclusion of all Europeans from 
any possessions within these limits. The fine territory of the St Paul's, 
now occupied by settlers, was described in the last annual report of the 
society. 

The territory of Young Sesters, recently ceded to the society, is nine- 
ty miles south of Montserado, in the midst of a very productive rice coun- 
try, affording also large quantities of palm oil, camwood, and ivory. 
The tract granted to the colony, includes the bed of the Sester's river, 
and all the land on each side, to the distance of half a league, and ex- 
tending longitudinally from the river's mouth to its source. In compli- 
ance with the terms of the contract, the chief of the country has con- 
structed a commodious store house, and put a number of labourers suffi- 
cient for the cultivation of a rice plantation of forty acres, under the 
direction of a respectable colonist who takes charge of the establish- 
ment. 

The right of use and occupancy has also been obtained to a region of 
country on the south branch of the St. John's river, north nine miles 
from Young Sesters, and the trading factory established there, under 



334 ON THE ^COLONIZATION 

the superintendence of a family from Monrovia, has already provided a 
Valuable source of income to the colony. Rice is also here to be culti- 
vated, and the chief who cedes the territory, agrees to furnish the la- 
bour. 

The upright and exemplary conduct of the individual at the head of 
this establishment, has powerfully impressed the natives with the impor- 
tance of inviting- them to settle in their country; and consequently, the 
offer made by the colonial agent, for the purchase of Factory Island, has 
been accepted by its proprietor. This island is in the river St. John's, 
four miles from its mouth, from five to six miles in length, and one-third 
of a mile in breadth, and is among the most beautiful and fertile spots 
in Africa. A few families are about to take up their residence upon it, 
and prepare for founding a settlement, " which cannot fail," says Mr. 
Ashmun, " in a few years, to be second to no other in the colony, except 
Monrovia." 

Negociations are also in progress with the chiefs of Cape Mount, 
which, if successful, will secure to the colony the whole trade of that 
station, estimated at fifty thousand dollars per annum, and may ultimate- 
ly lead to its annexation to the territories of Liberia. " The whole coun- 
try between Cape Mount and Trade Town," observes Mr. Ashmun, *' is 
rich in soil and other natural advantages, and capable of sustaining a 
numerous and civilized population beyond almost any other country on 
earth. Leaving the sea-board, the traveller, every where, at the distance 
of a very few miles, enters upon a uniform upland country, of moderate 
elevation, intersected by innumerable rivulets, abounding in springs of 
unfailing water, and covered with a verdure which knows no other chan- 
ges except those which refresh and renew its beauties. The country 
directly on the sea, although verdant and fruitful to a high degree, is 
found every where to yield, in both respects, to the interior." 

Much progress has been made the last year, in the construction of 
public buildings and works of defence, though, with adequate supplies 
of lumber, more might doubtless have been accomplished. Two hand- 
some churches, erected solely by the colonists, now adorn the village of 
Monrovia. Fort Stockton has been rebuilt in a stile of strength and 
beauty. A receptacle capable of accommodating one hundred and fif- 
ty emigrants, is completed. The new agency house, market house, 
Lancasterian school, and town house, in Monrovia, were, some months 
since, far advanced, and the finishing strokes were about to be given to 
the government house on the St. Paul's. The wing of the old agency 
house has been " handsomely fitted up for the colonial library, which 
now consists of twelve hundred volumes systematically arranged in 
glazed cases with appropriate hangings. All the books are. substantial- 
ly covered, and accurately labelled; and files of more than ten newspa- 
pers, more or less complete, are preserved. The library is fitted up so 
as to answer the purpose of a reading room, and it is intended to make 
it a museum of all the natural curiosities o{ Africa, which can be pro- 
cured." 

No efforts have been spared to place the colony in a state of adequate 
defence, and while it is regarded as perfectly secure from the native for- 
ces, it is hoped and believed, that it may sustain itself against any pirati- 
cal assaults. " The establishment has fifteen large carriage guns and 
three small pivot guns, all fit for service." Fort Stockton overlooks the 
whole town of Monrovia, and a strong battery is now building on the 



OF THE NEGROES. 335 

height of Thompson Town, near the extremity of the cape, which it is 
thought will afford protection to vessels anchoring in the roadstead. The 
militia of the colony consists of two corps appropriately uniformed, one 
of artillery of about fifty men, the other of infantry of forty men, and ou 
various occasions have they proved themselves deficient neither Id disci- 
pline or courage. 



Extracts from the Rev. J. Ashman's report of the Colony. 

The money expended on these various objects has necessarily been 
considerable; but, in comparison with the expense which similar objects 
in this country cost European governments, it will be found not merely 
nloderate, but trifling. Less than has been effected towards the extension 
of our limits, I could not attempt: and I am certain that were the direc- 
tion of every other establishment on the coast, except the Portuguese, 
would regard itself not only authorized, but obliged., to pay away thou- 
sands — I have in countless instances, spent not a dollar. But that spe- 
cies of economy which sacrifices to itself any object essential to the suc- 
cess of this undertaking, I am as little able to practice as the board is 
to approve. 

The natives of the country, but particularly of the interior, notwith- 
standing- their habitual indolence, produce, after supplying their own 
wants, a considerable surplus of the great staple of this part of western 
Africa — rice. The moderate rate at which this grain is purchased by 
such as deal directly with the growers; and the various uses of which it 
is susceptible in the domestic economy, easily place the means of sup- 
plying the first necessities of nature in the reach of every one. Rice, 
moreover, always commands a ready sale with transient trading vessels 
or coasters^jand forms an useful object of exchange for other provisions 
and necessaries, between individuals of the colony. 

To this succeeds, as next in importance, the camwood of the country, 
of which several hundred tons every year pass through the hands of the 
settlers; and serve to introduce, in return, the provisions and groceries 
of America; and the dry goods and wares both of Europe and America, 
which, from the necessary dependence of the members of every society 
on each other, come soon to be distributed, for the common advantage 
of all. 

The ivory of Liberia is less abundant, and less valuable, than that of 
other districts of Western Africa. It, however, forms a valuable article 
of barter and export, to the settlement ; and the amount annually bought 
and sold, falls between five and eight thousand dollars. 

No less than five schools for different descriptions of learners, exclu- 
sive of the Sunday Schools, have been supported during the year, and 
still continue in operation. — The youths and children of the colony dis- 
cover for their age, unequivocal proofs of a good degree of mental ac- 
complishment. The contrast between children several years in the en- 
joyment of the advantages of the colony, and most others of the same 
age, arriving from the United States, is striking — and would leave an 
entire stranger at no loss to distinguish the one from the other. Should 
emigration, but for a very few months, cease to throw the little igno- 
rants into the colony, from abroad, the phenomenon of a child of five 
years, unable to read, it is believed, would not exist among us. 
The first successful essay in the construction of small vessels, has 



335 ON THE COLONIZATION 

been made the past year. I have built, and put upon the rice trade, be- 
tween our factories to the leeward, and cape Montserado, a schooner of 
ten tons burthen, adapted to the passage of the bars of all the naviga- 
ble rivers of the coast. The sailing qualities of this vessel are so superi- 
or, that before the wind, it is believed, few or none of the numerous pi- 
rates of the coast, can overtake her. She makes a trip, freighted both 
ways, in ten days; and commonly carries and brings merchandise and 
produce, to the amount of from four to eight hundred dollars each trip. 
Another craft of equal tonnage, but of very indifferent materials, has 
been built by one of the colonists. The model of the St. Paul's (the 
public boat) was furnished by myself; but she was constructed under the 
superintendence of J. Blake, who has thus entitled himself to the cha- 
racter of an useful and ingenious mechanic. 

One of the most obvious effects of this colony, has already been to 
check, in this part of Africa, the prevalence of the slave-trade. The 
promptness and severity with which our arms have, in every instance, 
avenged the iusults and injuries offered by slave ships and factories to 
the colony, have, I may confidently say, banished it forever from this 
district of the coast. Our influence with the natives of this section of the 
coast is known to be so great as to expose to certain miscarriage, any 
transaction entered into with them for slaves. But there is a moral feel- 
ing at work in the minds of most of our neighbours, contracted doubtless, 
by means of their intercourse with the colony, which represents to them 
the dark business in a new aspect of repulsiveness and absurdity. Most 
are convinced that it is indeed a bad business, — and are apparently sin- 
cere in their determination to drop it forever, unless compelled by their 
wants to adventure a few occasoinal speculations. 

In the punishment of offences, the most lenient maxims of modern 
jurisprudence have been observed, by way of experiment on human na- 
ture, in that particular modification of it exhibited by the population of 
this colony. The result has been, so far favourable to the policy pur- 
sued. The passion to which corporeal and other ignominious punish- 
ments address their arguments, is certainly one of the least ingenuous 
of the human constitution. 



Extracts from a Memorial from the free people of colour to the citizens 
of Baltimore. 

We have hitherto beheld, in silence, but with the iotensest interest, 
the efforts of the wise and philanthropic in our behalf. If it became us 
to be silent, it became us also to feel the liveliest anxiety and gratitude. 

The time has now arrived, as we believe, in which your work and 
our happiness may be promoted by the expression of our opinions. We 
have therefore assembled for that purpose, from every quarter of the 
city and every denomination, to offer you this respectful address with all 
the weight and influence which oar number, character, and cause can 
lend it. 

We reside among you, and yet are strangers; natives, and yet not citi- 
zens; surrounded by the freest people and most republican institutions 
in the world, and yet enjoying none of the immunities of freedom. 

It is not to be imputed to you that we are here. Your ancestors re- 
monstrated against the introduction of the first of our race, who were 
brought amongst you; and it was the mother country that insisted on 



OF THE NEGROES. 337 

their admission, that her colonies and she might profit, as she thought, 
by their compulsory labour. But the gift was a curse to them, without 
being an advantage to herself. The colonies, grown to womanhood, burst 
from her dominion; aad if they have an angry recollection of their union 
and rupture, it must be at the sight of the baneful institution which she 
has entailed upon them. 

How much you regret its existence among you, is shown by the se- 
vere laws you have enacted against the slave-trade, and by your employ- 
ment of a naval force for its suppression. You have gone still further. 
Wot content with checking the increase of the already too growing evil, 
you have deliberated how you might best exterminate the evil itself. 
This delicate and important subject has produced a great variety of 
opinions; but we find, even in that diversity, a consolatory proof of the 
interest with which you regard the subject, and of your readiness to 
adopt that scheme which may appear to be the best. 

Leaving out all considerations of generosity, humanity, and benevo- 
lence, you have the strongest reasons to favour and facilitate the with- 
drawal from among you of such as wish to remove. It ill consists, in the 
first place, with your republican principles and with the health and mo- 
ral sense of the body politic, that there should be in the midst of you aD 
extraneous mass of men, united to you only by soil and climate, and ir- 
revocably excluded from your institutions. Nor is it less for your advan- 
tage in another point of view. Our places might, in our opinion, be bet- 
ter occupied by men of your own colour, who would increase the strength 
of your country. In the pursuit of livelihood and the exercise of indus- 
trious habits, we necessarily exclude from employment many of the 
whites — your fellow citizens, who would find it easier in proportion as 
we depart, to provide for themselves and their families. 

But if you have every reason to wish for our removal, how much great- 
er are our inducements to remove! Though we are not slaves, we are 
not free. We do not, and never shall participate in the enviable privi- 
leges which we continually witness. Beyond a mere subsistence, and 
the impulse of religion, there is nothing to arouse us to the exercise of 
our faculties, or excite us to the attainment of eminence. 

Of the many schemes that have been proposed, we most approve of 
that of African colonization. If we were able and at liberty to go whith- 
ersoever we would, the greater number, williog to leave this communi- 
ty, would prefer Liberia, on the coast of Africa. Others, no doubt, 
would turn them towards some other regions : the world is wide. Already, 
established there in the settlement of the American colonization society, 
are many of our brethren, the pioneers of African restoration, who en- 
courage us to join them. Several were formerly residents of this city, 
and highly considered by the people of their own class and colour. They 
have been planted at cape Montserado, the most eligible and one of the 
most elevated sites on the western coast of Africa, selected in 1821; and 
their number has augmented to five hundred. Able, as we are informed, 
to provide for their own defence and support, and capable of self-in- 
crease, they are now enjoying all the necessaries and comforts and ma- 
ny of the luxuries of larger and older communities. In Africa we shall 
be freemen indeed, and republicans after the model of this republic. We 
shall carry your language, your customs, your opinions and Christianity 
to that now desolate shore, and thence they will gradually spread, with 
our growth, far into the continent- The slave-trade, both external and 
X X 



338 COLONIZATION OF THE NEGROES. 

internal, can be abolished only by settlements on the coast. Africa, it 
destined to be ever civilized and converted, can be civilized and convert- 
ed by that means only. 

We foresee that difficulties and dangers await those who emigrate, 
such as every infant establishment must encounter and endure 3 such as 
your fathers suffered when first they landed 00 this now happy shore. 

The portion of comforts which they may lose, they will cheerfully 
abandon. Human happiness does not consist in meat and drink, nor in 
costly raiment, nor in stately habitations; to contribute to it even, they 
must be joined with equal rights and respectability; and it often exists in 
a high degree without them. 

That you may facilitate the withdrawal from among you of such as 
wish to remove, is what we now solicit. It can best be done, we think, 
by augmenting the means at the command of the American colonization 
society, that the colony of Liberia may be strengthened and improved 
for their gradual reception. The greater the number of persons sent 
thither, from any part of this nation whatsoever, so much the more capa- 
ble it becomes of receiving a still greater. Every encouragement to it, 
therefore, though it may not seem to have any particular portion of em- 
igrants directly in view, will produce a favourable effect upon all. The 
emigrants may readily be enabled to remove, in considerable numbers 
every fall, by a concerted system of individual contributions, and still 
more efficiently by the enactment of laws to promote their emigration, 
under the patronage of the state. The expense would not be nearly so 
great as it might appear at first sight, for when once the current shall 
have set towards Liberia, and intercourse grown frequent, the cost will 
of course diminish rapidly, and many will be able to defray it for them- 
selves. Thousands and tens of thousands poorer tbau we, annually em- 
igrate from Europe to your country, and soon have it in their power to 
hasten the arrival of those they left behind — Every intelligent and indus- 
trious coloured man would continually look forward to the day, when he 
or his children might go to their veritable home, and would accumulate 
all bis little earnings for that purpose. 

We have ventured these remarks, because we know that you take a 
kind concern in the subject to which they relate, and because we think 
they may assist you in the prosecution of your designs. If we were doubt- 
ful of your good will and benevolent intentions, we would remind you of 
the time when you were in a situation similar to ours, and when your 
forefathers were driven, by religious persecution, to a distant and inhos- 
pitable shore. We are not so persecuted, but we, too, leave our homes, 
and seek a distant and inhospitable shore: an empire may be the result of 
our emigration, as of their's. The protection, kindness, and assistance 
which you would have desired for yourselves under such circumstances, 
now extend to us : so may you be rewarded by the riddance of the stain 
and evil of slavery, the extension of civilization and the gospel, and the 
blessings of our commoQ Creator! 

WILLIAM C9RNISH, 
Chairman of the meeting in Bethel chorch. 

ROBERT COWLEY, 
Secretary of the meeting in Bethel church. 

JAMES DEAVER, 
Chairman of the meeting in the African church. Sharp street. 

REMUS HARVEY, 
Secretary of the meeting in the African church, Sharp street. 



339 



A TABLE, 

Exhibiting the amount of the Jlfrican portion of the population 
of the United States, according to the returns of the several 
censuses, ivith the ratio of increase. 

CENSUS OF 1790. 

Slaves, 697,69'7 

All other persons of colour except Indians, not taxed, ... 59,481 

CENSUS OF 1800. 

Slaves, 896,849 

All other persons, as above, -----.- 110,072 

Rate of increase of slaves between 1790 and 1800, 2.85442 pr. ct. pr. ann. 

Do. do. persons of colour do. 8.6054 

CENSUS OF 1810. 

Slaves, 1,191,364 

All other persons of colour, as above, ..... 186,446 

Rate of increase of slaves between 1800 and 1810 3.2838861 pr. ct.pr. ann. 
Do. do. persons of colour do. . 6.93854931 

CENSUS OF 1820. 

Slaves, 1,538,128 

All other persons of colour, as above, ..... 233,530 

Rate of increase of slaves between 1810 and 1820 2.911 
Do. do. persons of colour do. - 2.52534246 

Mean ratio of increase of slaves during the whole period of 30 years. 3.0164353 
Do. of persons of colour, ..... 5.98976392 

Present rate of increase of slaves, according to the last census, 2.911 

Do. do. of free persons of colour - - _ 2.52534246 

t>r a little more than two and a half per centum per annum. 



340 



ON THE BANK QUESTION. 



A sketch of xvhat Mr. Clay said on the Bank ^estion^in an 
address to his Constituents in Lexington^ June Sd^ 1816. 
[Extracted from the Kentucky Gazette.] 

On one subject, that of the bank of the United States, 
to which at the late session of congress he gave his humble 
support, Mr. Clay felt particularly anxious to explain the 
grounds on which he had acted. This explanation, if not 
due to his own character, the state and the district to which 
he belonged, had a right to demand. It would have been 
unnecessary, if his observations, addressed to the house of 
representatives, pending the measure, had been published; 
but they were not published, and why they were not pub- 
lished he was unadvised. 

When he was a member of the senate of the United 
States, he was induced to oppose the renewal of the charter 
to the old bank of the United States by three general con- 
siderations. The first was, that he was instructed to oppose 
it by the legislature of the state. What were the reasons 
that operated with the legislature, in giving the instruction, 
he did not know. He has understood from members of 
that body, at the time it was given, that a clause, declaring 
that congress had no power to grant the charter, was stricken 
out; from which it might be inferred, either that the legis- 
lature did not believe a bank to be unconstitutional, or that 
it had formed no opinion on that point. This inference 
derives additional strength from the fact, that although the 
two late senators from this state, as well as the present 
senators, voted for a national bank, the legislature which 
must have been well apprised that such a measure was in 
contemplation, did not again interpose either to protest 
against the measure itself, or to censure the conduct of 
those senators. From this silence on the part of a body 
which has ever fixed a watchful eye upon the proceedings 
of the general government, he had a right to believe that 
the legislature of Kentucky saw, without dissatisfaction, the 



ON THE BANK QUESTION. 341 

proposal to establish a national bank; and that its opposition 
to the former one was upon grounds of expediency, appli- 
cable to that corporation alone, or no longer existing. But 
when, at the last session, the question came up as to the 
establishment of a national bank, being a member of the 
house of representatives, the point of inquiry with him was 
not so much what was the opinion of the legislature, although 
undoubtedly the opinion of a body so respectable would 
have great weight with him under any circumstances, as 
what were the sentiments of his immediate constituents. 
These he believed to be in favour of such an institution, 
from the following circumstances: In the first place his 
predecessor, (Mr. Hawkins) voted for a national bank, 
without the slightest murmur of discontent. Secondly, 
during the last fall, when he was in his district he conversed 
freely with many of his constituents upon that subject, then 
the most common topic of conversation, and all, without a 
single exception as far as he recollected, agreed that it was 
a desirable, if not the only efficient remedy for the alarming 
evils in the currency of the country. And lastly, during 
the session he received many letters from his constituents, 
prior to the passage of the bill, all of which concurred, he 
believed without a solitary exception, in advising the mea- 
sure. So far then from being instructed by his district to 
oppose the bank, he had what was perhaps tantamount to 
an instruction to support it — the acquiescence of his con- 
stituents in the vote of their former representative, and the 
communications, oral and written, of the opinions of many 
of them in favour of a bank. 

The next consideration which induced him to oppose the 
renewal of the old charter, was, that he believed the cor- 
poration had, during a portion of the period of its existence, 
abused its powers, and had sought to subserve the views of 
a political party. Instances of its oppression for that pur- 
pose, were asserted to have occurred at Philadelphia and 
at Charleston; and, although denied in congress by the 
friends of the institution during the discussions on the 
application for the renewal of the charter, they were, in his 
judgment, satisfactorily made out. This oppression indeed 
was admitted in the house of representatives in the debate 
on the present bank, by a distinguished member of that 
party which had so warmly espoused the renewal of the 
old charter. It may be said, what security is there that the 



342 ON THE BANK QUESTION. 

new bank will not imitate this example of oppression?— He 
answered, the fate of the old bank warning all similar in- 
stitutions to shun politics, with which they ought not to 
have any concern. The existence of abundant competition 
arising from the great multiplication of banks, and the 
precautions which are to be found in the details of the 
present bill. 

A third consideration upon which he acted in 1811 was 
that as the power to create a corporation, such as was pro- 
posed to be continued, was not specifically granted in the 
constitution, and did not then appear to him to be necessary 
to carry into effect any of the powers which were specifically 
granted, congress was not authorized to continue the bank. 
The constitution, he said, contained powers delegated, and 
prohibitory, powers expressed and constructive. It vests 
in congress all powers necessary to give effect to the enu- 
merated powers — all that may be necessary to put into mo- 
tion and activity the machine of government which it con- 
structs. The powers that may be so necessary are deducible 
by construction. They are not defined in the constitution. 
They are from their nature, indefinable. When the question 
is in relation to one of these powers, the point of inquiry 
should be, is its exertion necessary to carry into effect any 
of the enumerated powers and objects of the general govern- 
ment? — With regard to the degree of necessity, various 
rules have been, at different times laid down; but, perhaps, 
at last there is no other than a sound and honest judgment 
exercised, under the checks and control which belong to 
the constitution and to the people. 

The constructive powers being auxiliary to the specifically 
granted powers, and depending for their sanction and ex- 
istence upon a necessity to give effect to the latter, which 
necessity is to be sought for and ascertained by a sound 
and honest discretion, it is manifest that this necessity ma)- 
not be perceived, at one time, under one state of things, 
when it is perceived at another time, under a different state 
of things. I'he constitution, it is true, never changes; it is 
always the same; but the force of circumstances and the 
lights of experience, may evolve to the fallible persons, 
charged with its administration, the fitness and necessity of 
a particular exercise of constructive power to-day, which 
they did net see at a former period. 

Mr. Clay proceeded to remark, that when the application 



ON THE BANK QUESTION. 343 

was made to renew the old charter of the bank of the 
United States, such an institution did not appear to him to 
be so necessary to the fulfillment of any of the objects spe- 
cifically enumerated in the constitution as to justify congress 
in assuming, by construction, a power to establish it. It was 
supported mainly upon the ground that it was indispensable 
to the treasury operations. But the local institutions in the 
several states, were at that time in prosperous existence, 
confided in by the community, having a confidence in each 
other, and maintaining an intercourse and connexion, the 
most intimate. Many of them were actually employed by 
the treasury to aid that department, in a part of its fiscal 
arrangements; and they appeared to him to be fully capable 
of affording to it all the facility that it ought to desire in all 
of them. They superceded in his judgment, the necessity 
of a national institution. But how stood the case in 1816, 
when he was called upon again to examine the power of tho^^ 
general government to incorporate a national bank. A total 
change of circumstances was presented — Events of the 
utmost magnitude had intervened. 

A general suspension of specie payments had taken place, 

and this had led to a train of consequences of the mos t 

alarming nature. He beheld, dispersed over the immense "^ 
extent of the United States, about three hundred banking 
institutions, enjoying in different degrees the confidence of 
the public, shaken as to them all, under no direct control of 
the general government, and subject to no actual responsi- 
bility to the state authorities. These institutions were 
emitting the actual currency of the United States; a cur- 
rency consisting of a paper, on which they neither paid I 
interest nor principal, whilst it was exchanged for the paper / 
of the community, on which both were paid. He saw these (^. / 
institutions in fact exercising what had been considered at j /'^ 
all times and in all countries, one of the highest attributes I 
of sovereignty, the regulation of the current medium of the 
country. They were no longer competent to assist the 
treasury in either of the great operations of collection, de- 
posit or distribution of the public revenues. In fact the 
paper which they emitted, and which the treasury, from 
the force of events found itself constrained to receive, was 
constantly obstructing the operations of that department. 
For it would accumulate where it was not wanted, and could 
not be used where it was wanted for the purposes of govern- 



344 ON THE BANK QUESTION. 

ment, without a ruinous and arbitrary brokerage. Every 
man who paid or received from the government, paid or 
received as much less than he ought to have done as was 
the difference between the medium in which the payment 
was effected and specie. Taxes were no longer uniform. In 
New England, where specie payments have not been sus- 
pended, the people were called upon to pay larger contribu- 
tions, than where they were suspended. In Kentucky, as 
much more was paid by the people in their taxes than was 
paid, for example, in the state of Ohio, as Kentucky paper 
was worth more than Ohio paper. 

It appeared to Mr. Clay that in this condition of things 
the general government could depend no longer upon these 
local institutions, multiplied and multiplying daily; coming 
into existence by the breath of eighteen state sovereignties, 
some of which by a single act of volition had created twenty 
^->or thirty at a time. Even if the resumption of specie pay- 
ments could have been anticipated, the general government 
remaining passive, it did not seem to him that the general 
government ought longer to depend upon these local insti- 
tutions exclusively for aid in its operations. But he did not 
believe it could be justly so anticipated. It was not the 
^* interest of all of them that the renewal should take place of 
specie payments, and yet without concert between all or 
most of them it could not be effected. With regard to those 
disposed to return to a regular state of things great diffi- 
culties might arise, as to the time of its commencement. 

Considering then, that the state of the currency was such 
that no thinking man could contemplate it without the most 
serious alarm, that it threatened general distress if it did 
not ultimately lead to convulsion and subversion of the 
government, it appeared to him to be the duty of congress 
to apply a remedy, if a remedy could be devised. A national 
bank, with other auxiliary measures was proposed as that 
remedy. Mr. Clay said he determined to examine the 
question, with as little prejudice as possible arising from 
his former opinion. He knew that the safest course to him, 
if he pursued a cold calculating prudence, was to adhere to 
that opinion, right or wrong. He was perfectly aware that 
if he changed, or seemed to change it, he should expose 
himself to some censure. But, looking at the subject with 
the light shed upon it by events happening since the com- 
mencement of the war, he could no longer doubt. A bank 



ON THE BANK QUESTION. 345 

appeared to him not only necessary, but Indispensably ne- 
cessary, in connexion with another measure, to remedy the 
evils of which all were but too sensible. He preferred to 
the suggestions of the pride of consistency, the evident 
interests of the community, and determined to throw himself 
upon their candor and justice. That which appeared to him 
in 1811, under the state of things then existing, not to be 
necessary to the general government, seemed now to be 
necessary, under the present state of things. Had he then 
foreseen what now exists, and no objection had laid against 
the renewal of the charter other than that derived from the 
constitution, he should have voted for the renewal. 

Other provisions of the constitution but little noticed, if 
noticed at all, on the discussions in congress in 1811, would 
seem to urge that body to exert all its powers to restore to 
a sound state the money of the country. That instrument 
confers upon congress the power to coin money and to re- 
gulate the value of foreign coins; and the states are pro- 
hibited to coin money, to emit bills of credit, or to make 
any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of 
debts. The plain inference is, that the subject of the general 
currency was intended to be submitted exclusively to the 
general government. In point of fact however, the regulation 
of the general currency is in the hands of the state govern- 
ments, or which is the same thing, of the banks created by 
them. Their paper has every quality of money, except that 
of being made a tender, and even this is imparted to it by 
some states, in the law by which a creditor must receive it, 
or submit to a ruinous suspension of the payment of his 
debt. It was incumbent upon congress to recover the con- 1 
trol which it had lost, over the general currency. Thei 
remedy called for, was one of caution and moderation, but 
of firmness. Whether a remedy directly acting upon the 
banks and their paper thrown into circulation, was in the 
power of the general government or not, neither congress 
nor the community were prepared for the application of such 
a remedy. An indirect remedy, of a milder character, 
seemed to be furnished by a national bank. Going into 
operation, with the powerful aid of the treasury of the 
United States, he believed it would be highly instrumental 
in the renewal of specie payments. Coupled with the other 
measure adopted by congress for that object, he believed 
the remedy effectual. The local banks must follow the 
Yy 



346 ON THE BANK QUESTION. 

example which the national bank would set them, of fe- 
deetning their notes by the payment of specie, or their notes 
will be discredited and put down. 

If the constitution then warranted the establishment of a 
bank, other considerations besides those already mentioned 
strongly urged it. The want of a general medium is every 
where felt. Exchange varies continually not only between 
different parts of the union, but between different parts of 
the same city. If the paper of a national bank were not 
redeemed in specie, it would be much better than the cur- 
rent paper, since although its value in comparison with 
specie might fluctuate, it would afford an uniform standard. 

If political power be incidental to banking corporations, 
there ought perhaps to be in the general government some 
counterpoise to that which is exerted by the states. Such a 
counterpoise might not indeed be so necessary, if the states 
exercised the power to incorporate banks equally, or in 
proportion to their respective populations. But that is not 
the case. A single state has a banking capital equivalent or 
nearly so, to one-fifth of the whole banking capital of the 
United States. Four states combined have the major part 
of the banking capital of the United States. In the event 
of any convulsion, in which the distribution of banking in- 
stitutions might be important, it may be urged that the 
mischief would not be alleviated by the creation of a na- 
tional bank, since its location must be within one of the 
states. But in this respect the location of the bank is ex- 
tremely favorable, being in one of the middle states, not 
likely from its position as well as its loyalty, to concur in 
any scheme for subverting the government. And a sufficient 
security against such contingency is to be found in the 
distribution of branches in different states, acting and re- 
acting upon the parent institution, and upon each other. 



r»- 



J47 



ADDRESS 

To the people of the Congressional District composed of the 
Counties of Fayette^ Woodford^ and Clarke^ in Kentucky^ 
1824. 

The relations of your representative and of your neigh- 
bour, in which I have so long stood, and in which I have 
experienced so many strong proofs of your confidence, at- 
tachment, and friendship, having just been, the one termi- 
nated, and the other suspended, I avail myself of the occa- 
sion on taking, I hope a temporaiy, leave of you, to express 
my unfeigned gratitude for all your favours, and to assure 
you that I shall cherish a fond and unceasing recollection 
of them. The extraordinary circumstances in which, during 
the late session of congress, I have been placed, and the un- 
merited animadversions which I have brought upon myself, 
for an honest and faithful discharge of my public duty, form 
an additional motive for this appeal to your candour and 
justice. If, in the office which I have just left, I have abu- 
sed your confidence and betrayed your interests, I cannot 
deserve your support in that on the duties of which I have 
now entered. On the contrary, should it appear that I have 
been assailed w'thout just cause, and that misguided zeal 
and interested passions have singled me out as a victim, I 
cannot doubt that I shall continue to find, in the enlighten- 
ed tribunal of the public, that cheering countenance and im- 
partial judgment, without which a public servant cannot 
possibly discharge with advantage the trust confided to him. 

It is known to you, that my name had been presented, bv 
the respectable states of Ohio, Kentucky, Louisiana, and 
Missouri, for the office of president, to the consideration of 
the American public, and that it had attracted some atten- 
tion in other quarters of the union. When, early in Novem- 
ber last, I took my departure from the district to repair to 
this city, the issue of the presidential election before the 
people was unknown. Events, however, had then so far 
transpired as to render it highly probable that there would 
be no election by the people, and that i should be excluded 
from the house of representatives. It became, therefore, my 
duty to consider, and to make up an opinion on, the respect- 



348 ADDRESvS. 

ive pretensions of the three gentlemen that might be return- 
ed, and at that early period I stated to Dr. Drake, one of 
the professors in the Medical school of Transylvania Uni- 
versity, and to John J. Crittenden, Esq. of P'rankfort, my 
determination to support Mr. Adams in preference to gen. 
Jackson. I wrote to Charles Hammond, Esq. of Cincinnati, 
about the same time, and mentioned certain objections to 
the election of Mr. Crawford, (among which was that of 
his continued ill health,j that appeared to me almost insu- 
perable. During my journey hither, and up to near Christ- 
mas, it remained uncertain whether Mr. Crawford or I 
would be returned to the house of representatives. Up to 
near Christmas, all our information made it highly probable 
that the vote of Louisiana would be given to me, and that I 
should consequently be returned, to the exclusion of Mr, 
Crawford. And, whilst that probability was strong, 1 com- 
municated to Mr. Senator Johnston, from Louisiana, my 
resolution not to allow my name, in consequence of the 
small number of votes by which it would be carried into 
the house, if I were returned, to constitute an obstacle, for 
one moment, to an election in the house of representatives. 
During the month of December, and the greater part of 
Januai-y, strong professions of high consideration, and of 
unbounded admiration of me, were made to my friends, in 
the greatest profusion, by some of the active friends of all 
the returned candidates. Every body professed to regret, 
after I was excluded from the house, that I had not been 
returned to it. I seemed to be the favourite of every body. 
Describing my situation to a distant friend, I said to him, 
" I am enjoying, whilst alive, the posthumous honours which 
are lasually awarded to the venerated dead." A person not 
acquainted with human nature would have been surprised, 
in listening to these praises, that the object of them had not 
been elected by general acclamation. None made more or 
warmer manifestations of these sentiments of esteem and 
admiration than some of the friends of general Jackson. 
None were so reserved as those of Mr. Adams; under an 
opinion, (as I have learnt since the election,) which they 
early imbibed, that the western vote would be only influ- 
enced by its own sense of public duty; and that if its judg- 
ment pointed to any other than Mr. Adams, nothing which 
they could do would secure it to him. These professions 
and manifestations were taken by me for what they were 



ADDRESS. 349 

worth. I knew thai the sunbeams would quickly disappear, 
after my opinion should be ascertained, and that they would 
be succeeded by a storm; although I did not foresee exactly 
how it would burst upon my poor head. I found myself 
transformed from a candidate before the people, into an 
elector for the people. I deliberately examined the duties 
incident to this new attitude, and weighed all the facts be- 
fore me, upon which my judgment was to be formed or re- 
viewed. If the eagerness of any of the heated partisans of 
the respective candidates suggested a tardiness in the de- 
claration of my intention, I believed that the new relation, 
in which I was placed to the subject, imposed on me an 
obligation to pay some respect to delicacy and decorum. 

Meanwhile that very reserve supplied aliment to news- 
paper criticism. The critics could not comprehend how a 
man standing as I had stood toward the other gentlemen, 
should be restrained, by a sense of propriety, from instantly 
fighting under the banners of one of them, against the others. 
Letters were issued from the manufactory at Washington, 
to come back, after performing long journeys, for Washing- 
ton consumption. These letters imputed to " Mr. Clay and 
his friends a mysterious air, a portentous silence," &c. From 
dark and distant hints the progress was easy to open and 
bitter denunciation. Anonymous letters, full of menace and 
abuse, were almost daily poured in on me. Personal threats 
were communicated to me, through friendly organs, and I 
was kindly apprised of all the glories of village effigies 
which awaited me. A systematic attack was simultaneously 
commenced upon me from Boston to Charleston, with an 
object, present and future, which it was impossible to mis- 
take. No man but myself could know the nature, extent, and 
variety of means which were employed to awe and influence 
me. I bore them, I trust, as your representative ought to 
have borne them, and as became me. Then followed the 
letter, afterwards adopted as his own by Mr. Kremer, to 
the Columbian Observer — With its character and contents 
you are well acquainted. When I saw that letter, alleged to 
be written by a member of the very house over which I was 
presiding, who was so far designated as to be described as 
belonging to a particular delegation, by name, a member 
with whom I might be daily exchanging, at least on my part, 
friendly salutations, and who was possibly receiving from 
me constantly acts of courtesy and kindness, I felt that I 



350 ADDRESS. 

could no longer remain silent. A crisis appeared to me to 
have arisen in my public life. I issued my card. I ought 
not to have put in it the last paragraph, because, although 
it does not necessarily imply the resort to a personal combat, 
it admits of that construction: nor will I conceal, that such 
a possible issue was within my contemplation. I owe it to 
the community to say, that whatever heretofore I may have 
done, or, by inevitable circumstances, might be forced to do, 
no man in it holds in deeper abhorrence than I do, that per- 
nicious practice. Condemned as it must be by the judgment 
and philosophy, to say nothing of the religion, of every 
thinking man, it is an affair of feeling about which we cannot, 
although we should, reason. Its true corrective will be found 
ivheu all shall unite, as all ought to unite, in its unqualified 
proscription. 

A few days after the publication of my card, " Another 
Card," under Mr. Kremer's name, was published in the In- 
telligencer. The night before, as I was voluntarily informed, 
Mr. Eaton, a senator from Tennessee, and the biographer of 
general Jackson (who boarded in the end of this city oppo- 
site to that in which Mr. Kremer took up his abode, a dis- 
tance of about two miles and a half) was closeted for some 
time with him. Mr. Kremer is entitled to great credit for 
having overcome all the disadvantages, incident to his early 
life and want of education, and forced his way to the hono- 
rable station of a member of the house of representatives. 
Ardent in his attachment to the cause which he had espous- 
ed, general Jackson is his idol, and of his blind zeal others 
have availed themselves, and have made him their dupe and 
their instrument. I do not pi-etend to know the object of 
Mr. Eaton's visit to him. I state the fact, as it was commu- 
nicated to me, and leave you to judge. Mr. Kremer's card 
is composed with some care and no little art, and he is made 
to avow in it, though somewhat equivocally, that he is the 
author of the letter to the Columbian Observer. To Mr. 
Crowninshield, a member from Massachusetts, formerly se- 
cretary of the navy, he declared that he was not the author 
of that letter. In his card, he draws a clear line of separa- 
tion between my friends and me, acquitting them and un- 
dertaking to make good his charges, in that letter, only so 
far as I was concerned. The purpose of this discrimination 
is obvious. At that time the election was undecided, and it 
was therefore as important to abstain from imputations 



ADDRESS. 351 

against my friends as it was politic to fix them upon me. If 
they could be made to believe that I had been perfidious, in 
the transport of their indignation, they might have been car- 
ried to the support of general Jackson. I received the Nation- 
al Intelligencer, containing Mr. Kremer's card, at breakfast, 
(the usual time of its distribution,) on the morning of its 
publication. As soon as I read the card, I took my resolu- 
tion. The terms of it clearly implied that it had not entered 
into his conception to have a personal affair with me; and I 
should have justly exposed myself to universal ridicule, if I 
had sought one with him. I determined to lay the matter 
before the house, and respectfully to invite an investigation 
of my conduct. I accordingly made a communication to the 
house, on the same day, the motives for which I assigned. 
Mr. Kremer was in his place, and, when I sat down, rose 
and stated that he was prepared and willing to substantiate 
his charges against me., This v/as his voluntary declaration, 
unprompted by his aiders and abettors, who had no opportu- 
nity of previous consultation with him on that point. Here 
was an issue publicly and solemnly joined, in which the ac- 
cused invoked an inquiry into serious charges against him, 
and the accuser professed an ability and a willingness to es- 
tablish them. A debate ensued, on the next day, which oc- 
cupied the greater part of it, during which Mr. Kremer de- 
clared to Mr. Brent, of Louisiana, a friend of mine, and to 
Mr. Little, of Maryland, a friend of general Jackson, as they 
have certified, " that he never intended to charge Mr. Clay 
with corruption or dishonor, in his intended vote for Mr. 
Adams, as president, or that he had transferred, or could 
transfer, the votes or interests of his friends; that he (Mr. 
Kremer,j was among the last men in the nation to make 
such a charge against Mr. Clay; and that his letter was never 
intended to convey the idea given to it." Mr. Digges, a 
highly respectable inhabitant of this city, has certified to the 
same declarations of Mr. Kremer. 

A message was also conveyed to me, during the discus- 
sions, through a member of the house, to ascertain if I would 
be satisfied with an explanation which was put on paper and 
shown me, and which it was stated Mr. Kremer was wil- 
ling, in his place, to make. I replied that the matter was in 
the possession of the house. I was afterwards told, that 
Mr. Ingham, of Pennsylvania, got hold of that paper, put 
it in his pocket, and that he advised Mr. Kremer to take no 



352 ADDRESS. 

step without the approbation of his friends. Mr, Cook, of 
Illinois, moved an adjournment of the house, on information 
which he received of the probability of Mr. Kremer's mak- 
ing a satisfactory atonement on the next day, for the injury 
which he had done me, which I have no doubt he would 
have made, if he had been left to the impulses of his native 
honesty. The house decided to refer my communication to 
a committee, and adjourned until the next day to appoint it 
by ballot. In the meantime Mr. Kremer had taken, I pre- 
sume, or rather there had been forced upon him, the advice 
of his friendu ^ and I heard no more of the apology. A com- 
mittee was appointed of seven gentlemen, of whom not one 
was my political friend, but who were among the most emi- 
nent members of the body. I received no summons or noti- 
fication from the committee from its first organization to 
its final dissolution, but Mr. Kremer was called upon by it 
to bring forward his proofs. For one moment be pleased to 
stop here and contemplate his posture, his relation to the 
house and to me, and the high obligations under which he 
had voluntarily placed himself. He was a member of one 
of the most august assemblies upon earth, of which he was 
bound to defend the purity or expose the corruption, by 
every consideration which ought to influence a patriot bosom. 
A most responsible and highly important constitutional duty, 
was to be peformed by that assembly. He had chosen in an 
anonymous letter, to bring against its presiding officer 
charges, in respect to that duty, of the most flagitious cha- 
racter. These charges comprehended delegations from seve- 
ral highly respectable states. If true, that presiding officer 
merited not merely to be dragged from the chair, but to be 
expelled the house. He challenges an investigation into his 
conduct, and Mr. Kremer boldly accepts the challenge, and 
promises to sustain his accusation. The committee, appoint- 
ed by the house itself, with the common consent of both 
parties, calls upon Mr. Kremer to execute his pledge pub- 
licly given, in his proper place, and also, previously given 
in the public prints. — Here is the theatre of the alleged ar- 
rangements; this the vicinage in which the trial ought to 
take place. Every thing was here fresh in the recollection 
of the witnesses, if there were any. Here all the proofs were 
concentrated. Mr. Kremer was stimulated by every motive 
which could impel to action; by his consistency of character; 
by duty to his constituents — to his country; by that of re- 



ADDRESS. 353 

deeming his solemn pledge; by his anxious wish for the suc- 
cess of his favourite, whose interests could not fail to be 
advanced by supporting his atrocious charges. But Mr. 
Kremer had now the benefit of the advice of his friends. 
He had no proofs, for the plainest of all reasons, because 
there was no truth in his charges. — They saw that to at- 
tempt to establish them and to fail, as he must fail in the 
attempt, might lead to an exposure of the conspiracy, of 
what he was the organ. They advised therefore that he 
should make a retreat, and their adroitness suggested, that 
in an objection to that jurisdiction of the house, which had 
been admitted, and in the popular topics of the freedom of 
the press, his duty to his constituents, and the inequality in 
the condition of the speaker of the house, and a member on 
the floor, plausible means might be found to deceive the ig- 
norant and conceal his disgrace. A laboured communication 
was accordingly prepared by them, in Mr. Kremer's name, 
and transmitted to the committee, founded upon these sug- 
gestions. Thus the valiant champion, who had boldly step- 
ped forward, and promised, as a representative of Me peo- 
ple, to " cry aloud and spare not," forgot all his gratuitous 
gallantry and boasted patriotism, and sunk at once into pro- 
found silence. 

With these remarks, I will, for the present, leave him, 
and proceed to assign the reasons to you, to whom alone I 
admit myself to be officially responsible, for the vote which 
1 gave on the presidential election. The first inquiry which 
it behoved me to make was, as to the influence which ought 
to be exerted on my judgment, by the relative state of the 
electoral votes which the three returned candidates brought 
into the house, from the colleges. General Jackson obtained 
ninety-nine, Mr. Adams eighty-four, and Mr. Crawford 
forty-one. Ought the fact of a plurality being given to one 
of the candidates to have any, and what, weight? If the con- 
stitution had intended that it should have been decisive, the 
constitution would have made it decisive, and interdicted 
the exercise of any discretion on the part of the house of re- 
presentatives. The constitution has not so ordained, but, on 
the contrary, it has provided, that " from the persons having 
the highest numbers, not exceeding three, on the list of 
those voted for as president, the house of representatives 
shall choose^ immediately, by ballot, a president." Thus, a 
discretion is necessarily invested in the house — for choice 
Zz 



354 ADDRESS. 

implies examination, comparison, judgment. The fact, there- 
fore, that one of the three persons was the highest returned, 
not being, by the constitution of the country, conclusive 
upon the judgment of the house, it still remains to deter- 
mine what is the true degree of weight belonging to it? It 
has been contended that it should operate, if not as an instruc- 
tion, at least in the nature of one, and that in this form it 
should control the judgment of the house. But this is the 
same argument of conclusiveness, which the constitution 
does not enjoin, thrown into a different, but more imposing 
shape. Let me analyze it. There are certain states, the ag- 
gregate of whose electoral votes conferred upon the highest 
returned candidate, indicates their wish that he should be 
the president. Their votes amount in number to ninety-nine, 
out of two hundred and sixty-one electoral votes of the 
whole Union. These ninety-nine do not, and cannot, of 
themselves, make the president. If the fact of particular 
states giving ninety-nine votes can, according to any received 
notions of the doctrine of instruction, be regarded in that 
light, to whom are those instructions to be considered ad- 
dresssed? According to that doctrine, the people, who ap- 
point, have the right to direct, by their instruction, in certain 
cases, the course of the representative whom they appoint. 
The states, therefore, who gave those ninety-nine votes, may 
in some sense be understood thereby to have instructed their 
representatives in the house to vote for the person on whom 
they were bestowed, in the choice of a president. But most 
clearly the representatives coming from other states, which 
gave no part of those ninety-nine votes, cannot be consider- 
ed as having been under any obligation to surrender their 
judgments to those of the states which gave the ninety-nine 
votes. To contend that they are under such an obligation 
would be to maintain that the people of one state have a 
right to instruct the representatives from another state. It 
would be to maintain a still more absurd proposition, that, 
in a case v.'here the representatives from a state did not hold 
themselves instructed and bound by the will of that state, 
as indicated in its electoral college, the representatives from 
another state were, nevertheless, instructed and bound by 
that alien will. Thus the entire vote of North Carolina, and 
a large majority of that of Maryland, in their respective 
electoral colleges, were given to one of the three returned 
candidates, for whom the delegation from neither of those 



ADDRESS. 355 

states voted.— -And yet the argument combatled requires 
that the delegation from Kentucky, who do not represent the 
people of North Carolina nor Maryland, should be instruct- 
ed by, and give an effect to, the indicated will of the people 
of those two states, when their own delegation paid no at- 
tention to it. — Doubtless, those delegations felt themselves 
authorised to look into the actual composition of, and all 
other circumstances connected with, the majorities which 
gave the electoral votes, in their respective states; and felt 
themselves justified, from a view of the whole ground, to 
act upon their responsibility and according to their best 
judgments, disregarding the electoral votes in their states. 
And are representatives from a different state not only 
bound by the will of the people of a different commonwealth, 
but forbidden to examine into the manner by which the ex- 
pression of that will was brought about — an examination 
which the immediate representatives themselves feel it their 
duty to make? 

Is the fact, then, of a plurality to have no weight? Far 
from it. Here are twenty-four communities, united under a 
common government. The expression of the will of any one 
of them is entitled to the most respectful attention. It ought 
to be patiently heard and kindly regarded by the others; but 
it cannot be admitted to be conclusive upon them. The ex- 
pression of the will of nineiy-nine out of two hundred and 
sixty-one electors is entitled to very great attention, but that 
will cannot be considered as entitled to control the will of the 
one hundred and sixty-two electors, who have manifested a 
different will. To give it such controlling influence, would 
be a subversion of the fundamental maxim of the republic — 
that the majority should govern. The will of the ninety-nine 
can neither be allowed rightfully to control the remaining 
one hundred and sixty-two, nor any one of the one hundred 
and sixty-two electoral votes. It m.ay be an argument, a per- 
suasion, addressed to all, and to each of them, but it is bind- 
ing and obligatory upon none. It follows, then, that the fact 
of a plurality was only one among the various considerations 
which the house was called upon to weigh, in making up its 
judgment. And the weight of the consideration ought to 
have been regulated by the extent of the plurality. As be- 
tween general Jackson and Mr. Adams, the vote standing 
in the proportions of ninety-nine to eighty-four, it was en- 
titled to less weight; as between the general and Mr. Craw- 



356 ADDRESS. 

ford it was entitled to more, the vote being as ninety-nine 
to forty-one. The concession may even be made that, upon 
the supposition of an equality of pretensions between com- 
peting candidates, the preponderance ought to be given to 
the fact of a plurality. 

With these views of the relative state of the vote, with 
which the three returned candidates entered the house, I 
proceeded to examine the other considerations which be- 
longed to the question. For Mr. Crawford, who barely 
entered the house, with only four votes more than one can- 
didate not returned, and upon whose case, therefore, the 
argument derived from the fact of plurality, operated with 
strong, though not decisive force, I have ever felt much 
personal regard. But I was called upon to perform a solemn 
public duty, in which my private feelings, whether of affec- 
tion or aversion, were not to be indulged, but the good of 
my country only consulted. It appeared to me that the pre- 
carious state of that gentleman's health, although I partici- 
pated with his best friends, in all their regrets and sympa- 
thies, on account of it, was conclusive against him, to say 
nothing of other considerations of a public nature which 
would have deserved examination, if, happily, in that respect 
he had been differently circumstanced. He had been ill near 
eightet-n months; and although I am aware that his actual 
condition was a fact depending upon evidence, and that the 
evidence in regard to it, which had been presented to the 
public, was not perfectly harmonious; I judged for myself 
upon what I saw and heard. He may, and I ardently hope 
will, recover; but I did not think it became me to assist in 
committing the executive administration of this great re- 
public on the doubtful contingency of the restoration to 
health of a gentleman who had been so long and so seriously 
afflicted. Moreover, if, under all the circumstances of his 
situation, his election had been desirable, I did not think it 
practicable. I believed and yet believe, that if the votes of 
the western states, given to Mr. Adams, had been conferred 
on Mr. Crawford, the effect would have been to protract in 
the house the decision of the contest, to the great agitation 
and distraction of the country, and possibly to defeat an 
election altogether — the very worst result I thought, that 
could happen. It appeared to me then, that sooner or later 
we must arrive at the only practical issue of the contest before 
us, and that was between Mr. Adams and general Jackson, 



ADDRESS. 357 

and I thought that the earlier we got there, the better for 
the country and for the house. 

In considering this only alternative, I was not unaware of 
your strong desire to have a western president; but 1 thought 
that I knew enough of your patriotism, and magnanimity, 
displayed on so many occasions, to believe that you could 
rise above the mere gratification of sectional pride, if the 
common good of the whole required you to make the sacri- 
fice of local partiality. I solemnly believed it did, and this 
brings me to the most important consideration which be- 
longed to the whole subject — that arising out of the respect- 
ive fitness of the only two real competitors, as it appeared 
to my best judgment. In speaking of general Jackson, I am 
aware of the delicacy and respect which are justly due to 
that distinguished citizen. It is far from my purpose to at- 
tempt to disparage him. I could not do it if I were capable 
of making the attempt; but I shall nevertheless speak of him 
as becomes me, with truth. I did not believe him so com- 
petent to discharge the various, intricate, and complex 
duties of the office of chief magistrate, as his competitor. 
He has displayed great skill and bravery as a military com- 
mander, and his renown will endure as long as the means 
exist of preserving a recollection of human transactions. 
But to be qualified to discharge the duties of president of 
the United States, the incumbent must have more than mere 
military attainments — he must be a statesman. An indi- 
vidual may be a gallant and successful general, an eminent 
lawyer, an eloquent divine, a learned physician, or an ac- 
complished artist; and doubtless the union of all these cha- 
racters in the person of a chief magistrate would be de'sira- 
rable; but no one of them, nor all combined, will qualify him 
to be president, unless he superadds that indispensable re- 
quisite of being a statesman. Far from meaning to say, that 
it is an objection to the elevation, to the chief magistracy, 
of any person, that he is a military commander, if he unites 
the other qualifications, I only intend to say that, whatever 
may be the success or splendour of his military achievements, 
if his qualification be only military, that is an objection; and I 
think a decisive objection to his election. If general Jackson 
has exhibited, either in the councils of the Union, or in those 
of his own state, or in those of any other state or territory, 
the qualities of a statesman, the evidence of the fact has es- 
caped my observation. It would be as painful as it is unne- 



358 ADDRESS. 

cessary to recapitulate some of the incidents, which must 
be fresh in your recollection, of his public life. But I was 
greatly deceived in my judgment if they proved him to be 
endowed with that prudence, temper, and discretion, which 
are necessary for civil administration. It was in vain to 
remind me of the illustrious example of Washington. There 
was in that extraordinary person, united a serenity of mind, 
a cool and collected wisdom, a cautious and deliberate 
judgment, a perfect command of the passions, and through- 
out his whole life, a familiarity and acquaintance with bu- 
siness and civil transactions, which rarely characterise any 
human being. No man was ever more deeply penetrated 
than he was, with profound respect for the safe and neces- 
sary principle of the entire subordination of the military to 
the civil authority. I hope I do no injustice to general 
Jackson, when I say, that I could not recognise, in his pub- 
lic conduct, those attainments for both civil government and 
military command, v/hich cotemporaries and posterity have 
alike unanimously concurred in awarding as yet only to the 
father of his country. I was sensible of the gratitude which 
the people of this country justly feel towards general Jackson 
for his brilliant military services. But the impulses of public 
gratitude should be controlled, as it appeared to me, by rea- 
son and discretion, and I was not prepared blindly to sur- 
render myself to the hazardous indulgence of a feeling, 
however amiable and excellent that feeling may be when 
properly directed. It did not seem to me to be wise or pru- 
dent, if, as I solemnly believed, general Jackson's compe- 
tency for the office was hichly questionable, that he should 
be placed in a situation where neither his fame nor the 
public interests would be advanced. General Jackson him- 
self would be the last man to recommend or vote for any 
one for a place, for which he thought him unfit. I felt 
myself sustained by his own reasoning, in his letter to Mr. 
Monroe, in which, speaking of the qualifications of our ve- 
nerable Shelby for the department of war, he remarked: 
" I am compelled to say to you, that the acquirements of 
this worthy man are not competent to the discharge of the 
multiplied duties of this department. I therefore hope he 
may not accept the appointment. I am fearful, if he does, 
he will not add much splendour to his present well earned 
standing as a public character." Such was my opinion of 
general Jackson, in reference to the presidency. His con- 



ADDRESS. 359 

victions of governor Shelby's unfitness, by the habits of his 
life, for the appointment of secretary of war, were not more 
honest nor stronger than mine were of his own want of ex- 
perience, and the necessary civil qualifications to discharge 
the duties of a president of the United States. In his ele- 
vation to this office, too, I thought I perceived the esta- 
blishment of a fearful precedent; and I am mistaken in all 
the warnings of instructive history, if I erred in my judg- 
ment. Undoubtedly there are other and many dangers to 
public liberty, besides that which proceeds from military 
idolatry, but I have yet to acquire the knowledge of it, if 
there be one more perilous or more frequent. 

Whether Mr. Adams would, or would not have been my 
choice of a president, if I had been left freely to select from 
the whole mass of Aioerican citizens, was not the question 
submitted to my decision. I had no such liberty; but I was 
circumscribed, in the selection I had to make, to one of the 
three gentlemen, whom the people themselves had thought 
proper to present to the house of representatives. What- 
ever objections might be supposed to exist against him, still 
greater appeared to me to apply to his competitor. Of Mr. 
Adams, it is but truth and justice to say, that he is highly 
gifted, profoundly learned, and long and greatly experienc- 
ed in public affairs, at home and abroad. Intimately con- 
versant with the rise and progress of every negotiation with 
foreign powers, pending or concluded; personally acquainted 
with the capacity and attainments of most of the public men 
of this country whom it might be proper to employ in the 
public service; extensively possessed of much of that valua- 
ble kind of information, which is to be acquired neither 
from books nor tradition, but which is the fruit of largely 
participating in public affairs; discreet and sagacious; he 
would enter on the duties of the office with great advantages. 
I saw in his election the establishment of no dangerous ex- 
ample. I saw in it on the contrary, only conformity to the safe 
precedents which had been established in the instances of 
Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, and Mr. Monroe, who had 
respectively filled the same office, from which he was to be 
translated. 

A collateral consideration of much weight was derived 
from the wishes of the Ohio delegation. A majority of it, 
during the progress of the session, made up their opinions 
to support Mr. Adams, and they were communicated to 



360 ADDRESS. 

me. They said, *' Ohio supported the candidate who was 
the choice of Kentucky. We failed in our common exer- 
tions to secure his election. Now, among those returned, 
we have a decided preference, and we think you ought to 
make some sacrifice to gratify us." Was not much due to 
our neighbour and friend? 

I considered, with the greatest respect, the resolution of 
the general assembly of Kentucky, requesting the delega- 
tion to vote for general Jackson. That resolution, it is true, 
placed us in a peculiar situation. Whilst every other dele- 
gation, from every other state in the union, was left by its 
legislature entirely free to examine the pretensions of all 
the candidates, and to form its unbiassed judgment, the 
general assembly of Kentucky thought proper to interpose 
and request the delegation to give its vote to one of the 
candidates, whom they were pleased to designate. I felt a 
sincere desire to comply with a request emanating from a 
source so respectable, if I could have done so consistently 
with those paramount duties which I owed to you and to 
the country. But, after full, and anxious consideration, I 
found it incompatible with my best judgment of those du- 
ties to conform to the request of the general assembly. The 
resolution asserts, that it was the wish of the people of 
Kentucky, that their delegation should vote for the general. 
It did not inform me by what means that body had arrived 
at a knowledge of the wish of the people. I knew that its 
members had repaired to Frankfort before I departed from 
home to come to Washington. I knew that their intention 
was fixed on important local concerns, well entitled, by their 
magnitude, exclusively to engross it. No election, no ge- 
neral expression of the popular sentiment had occurred since 
that in November, when electors were chosen, and at that the 
people, by an overwhelming majority, had decided against 
general Jackson. I could not see how such an expression 
against him, could be interpreted into that of a desire for 
his election. If, as is true, the candidate whom they pre- 
ferred, was not returned to the house, it is equally true, 
that the state of the contest as it presented itself here to 
me, had never been considered, discussed, and decided by 
the people of Kentucky, in their collective capacity. What 
would have been their decision on this new state of the 
question, I might have undertaken to conjecture, but the 
certainty of any conclusion of fact, as to their opinion, at 



ADDRESS. 361 

which I could arrive, was by no means equal to that cer- 
tainty of conviction of my duty to which I was carried by 
the txc-rtion of my best and most deliberate reflections. ! he 
letters from home, which some of the delegation received, 
expressed the most opposite opinions, and there were not 
wanting instances of letters from some of the verv mem- 
bers who had voted for the resolution, advising a different 
course. I received from a highly respectable portion of my 
constituents a paper, instructing me as follows: "We the 
undersigned voters in the congressional district, having 
viewed the instruction or request of ihe legislature of Ken- 
tucky, on the subject of choosing a president and vice- 
president of the United States, with regret, and the said 
request or instruction to our representative in congress 
from this district, being without our knowledge or consent; 
Wc for many reasons known to ourselves, connected with 
so momentous an occasion, hereby instruct our representa- 
tive in congress to vote on this occasion agreeably to his 
own judgment, and by the best lights he may have on the 
subject, with, or without, the consent of the legislature of 
Kentucky." This instruction came both unexpectedly and 
unsolicited by roe, and it was accompanied by letters as- 
suring me, that it expressed the opinion of a majority of my 
constituents. I could not therefore regard the resolution as 
conclusive evidence of your wishes. 

Viewed as a mere request, as it purported to be, the 
general assembly doubtless had the power to make it. But, 
then, with great deference, I think it was worthy of serious 
consideration whether the dignity of the general assembly 
ought not to have induced it to forbear addressing itself not 
to another legislative body, but to a small part of it, and 
requesting the members who composed that part, in a case 
which the constitution had confided to them, to vote ac- 
cording to the wishes of the general assembly, whether 
those wishes did or did not conform to their sense of duty. 
I could not regard the resolution as an instruction; for, from 
the origin of our state, its legislature has never assumed 
nor exercised the right to instruct the representatives in 
congress. I did not recognize the right, therefore, of the 
legislature to instruct me. I recognized that right only when 
exerted by you. That the portion of the public servants who 
made up the general assembly have no right to instruct that 
portion of them who constituted the Kentucky delegation in 
3 A 



362 ADDRESS. 

the house of representatives, is a proposition too clear to be 
argued. The members of the general assembly would have 
been the first to behold as a presumptuous interposition, any 
instruction, if the Kentucky delegation could have commit- 
ted the absurdity to issue, from this place, any instruction 
to them to vote in a particular manner on any of the interest- 
ing subjects which lately engaged their attention at Frank- 
fort. And although nothing is further from my intention 
than to impute either absurdity or presumption to the gene- 
ral assembly, the adoption of the resolution referred to, I 
must say that the difference between an instruction emana- 
ting from them to the delegation, and from the delegation 
to them, is not in principle, but is to be found only in the 
degree of superior importance which belongs to the general 
assembly. 

Entertaining these views of the election on which it was 
made my duty to vote, I felt myself bound, in the exercise 
of my best judgment, to prefer Mr. Adams; and I accord- 
ingly voted for him. I should have been highly gratified 
if it had not been my duty to vote on the occasion: but that 
was not my situation, and I did not choose to shrink from 
any responsibility which appertained to your representative. 
Shortly after the election, it was rumored that Mr. Kremer 
was preparing a publication, and the preparations for it which 
were making excited much expectation. Accordingly, on 
the twenty-sixth of February, the address, under his name, 
to the " Electors of the Ninth Congressional District of the 
State of Pennsylvania," made its appearance in the Wash- 
ington City Gazette. No member of the house, I am per- 
suaded, believed that Mr. Kremer wrote one paragraph of 
that address, or of the plea, which was presented to the 
committee, to the jurisdiction of the house. Those who 
counselled him, and composed both papers, and their pur- 
poses, were just as well known as the author of any report 
from a committee to the house. The first observation which 
is called for by the address is the place of its publication. 
That place was in this city, remote from the centre of Penn- 
sylvania, near which Mr. Kremer's district is situated, and 
in a paper having but a very limited, if any, circulation in 
it. The time is also remarkable. The fact that the president 
intended to nominate me to the senate for the office which 
I now hold, in the course of a few days, was then well known, 
and the publication of the address was, no doubt, made less 



ADDRESS. 363 

with an intention to communicate information to the electors 
of the ninth congressional district of Pennsylvania, than to 
affect the decision of the senate on the intended nomination. 
Of the character and contents of that address of Messrs. 
George Kremer & Co. made up, as it is, of assertion with- 
out proof, of inferences without premises, and of careless, 
jocose, and quizzing conversations of some of my friends, 
to which I was no party, and of which I had never heard, 
it is not my intention to say much. It carried its own re- 
futation, and the parties concerned saw its abortive nature 
the next day in the indignant countenance of every unpre- 
judiced and honorable member. In his card, Mr. Kremer 
had been made to say, that he held himself ready " to prove^ 
to the satisfaction of unprejudiced minds, enough to satisfy 
them of the accuracy of the statements which are contained 
in that letter, to the extent that they concern the course of 
conduct of H. Clay.'''' The object for excluding my friends 
from this pledge has been noticed. But now the election 
was decided, and there no longer existed a motive for dis- 
criminating between them and me. Hence the only state- 
ments that are made, in the address, having the semblance 
of proof, relate rather to them than to me; and the design 
was, by establishing something like facts upon them, to make 
those facts re-act upon me. 

Of the few topics of the address upon which I shall re- 
mark, the first is, the accusation, brought forward against 
me, of violating instructions. If the accusation were true, 
who was the party offended, and to whom was I amenable? 
If I violated any instructions, they must have been yours, 
since you only had the right to give them, and to you alone 
was I responsible. Without allowing hardly time for you to 
hear of my vote, without waiting to know what your judg- 
ment was of my conduct, George Kremer & Co. chose to 
arraign me before the American public as the vialator of 
instructions which I was bound to obey. If, instead of be- 
ing, as you are, and I hope always will be, vigilant observers 
of the conduct of your public agents, jealous of your rights, 
and competent to protect and defend them, you had been 
ignorant and culpably confiding, the gratuitous interposition, 
as your advocate, of the honorable George Kremer, of the 
ninth congressional district in Pennsylvania, would have 
merited your most grateful acknowledgments. Even upon 
that supposition, his arraignment of me would have required 



364 ADDRESS. 

for its support one small circumstance, which happens not 
to exist, and that is, the fact of your having actually in- 
structt:d me to vott- according to his pleasure. 

The relations in which I stood to Mr. Adams constitute 
the next theme of the address, which I shall notice. I am 
described as having assumed "a position of peculiar and de- 
cided hostility to the election of Mr. Adams," and expres- 
sions towards him are attributed to me, which I never used. 
I am made also responsible for " pamphlets and essays of 
great ability," published by my friends in Kentucky in the 
course of the canvass. The injustice of the principle of hold- 
ing me thus answerable, may be tested by applying it to the 
case of general Jackson, in reference to publications issued, 
for example, from the Columbian Observer. That I was not 
in favor of the election of Mr. Adams, when the contest was 
before the people, is most certain. Neither was I in favor 
of that of Mr, Crawford or general Jackson. That I ever 
did anv thing against Mr. Adams, or either of the other 
gentlemen, inconsistent with a fair and honorable competi- 
tion, I utterly deny. My relations to Mr. Adams have been 
the subject of much misconception, if not misrepresentation. 
I have been slated to be under a public pledge to expose 
some nefarious conduct of that gentleman, during the nego- 
ciation at Ghent, which would prove him to be entirely un- 
worthy of public confidence; and that with a knowledge of 
his perfidy, I, nevertheless, voted for him. If these impu- 
tations are well founded, I should, indeed, be a fit object 
for public censure; but if, on the contrary, it shall be found 
that others, inimical both to him and to me, have substi- 
tuted their own interested wishes for my public promises, 
I trust that the indignation, which they would excite, will 
be turned from me. My letter, addressed to the editors of 
the Intelligencer, under date of the fifteenth of November, 
1822, is made the occasion for ascribing to me the promise 
and the pledge to make those treasonable disclosures on Mr. 
Adams. Let that letter speak for itself, and it will be seen 
how little justification there is for such an assertion. It ad- 
A^erts to the controversy which had arisen between Messrs. 
Adams and Russell, and then proceeds to state that, "• in 
the course of the several publications, of which it has been 
the occasion, and, particularly in the appendix to a pamphlet 
which had been recently published by the honorable John 
Quincy Adams, I think there are some errors (no doubt 



ADDRESS. 365 

unintentionat) both as to matters of fact and matters of opi- 
nion, in regard to the transactions at Ghent, relating to the 
navigation of thr; Mississippi, and certain liberties claimed 
by the United States in the fisheries, and to the part xvhich 
I bore in those transactions. These important interests are 
now well secured," — "'An account, therefore, of what oc- 
curred in the negociation at Ghent, on those two subjects, 
is not, perhaps, necessary to the present or future security 
of any of the rights of the nation, and is only interesting as 
appertaining to its past history. With these impressions, 
and being extremely unwilling to present myself, at any 
time, before the public, I had almost resolved to remain 
silent, and thus expose myself to the inference of an acqui- 
escence in the correctness of all the statements made by 
both my colleagues; but [ have, on more reflection, thought 
it may be expected of me, and be considered as a duty on 
my part, to contribute all in my power towards a full and 
faithful understanding of the transactions referred to. Un- 
der this conviction, I will, at some future period, more 
propitious than the present to calm and dispassionate con- 
sideration, and when there can be no misinterpretation of 
motives, lay before the public a narrative of those transac- 
tions, as I understood them." 

From even a careless perusal of that letter, it is apparent, 
that the only txvo subjects of the negociations at Ghent, to 
which it refers, were the navigation of the Mississippi and 
certain fishing liberties; that the errors, which I had sup- 
posed were committed, applied to both Mr. Russell and Mr. 
Adams, though more particularly to the appendix of the 
latter; that they were unintentional; that they affected my- 
self principally; that I deemed them of no public impor- 
tance, as connected with the then, or future, security of any 
of the rights of the nation, but only interesting to its past 
history; that I doubted the necessity of my offering to the 
public any account of those transactions; and that the nar- 
rative which I promised was to be presented at a season of 
more calm, and when there could be no misinterpretation 
of motives. Although Mr. Adams believes otherwise, I 
yet think there are some unintentional errors, in the con- 
troversial papers between him and Mr. Russel, But I have 
reserved to myself an exclusive right of judging when I 
shall execute the promise v/hich I have made, and i shall 
be neither quickened nor retarded in its performance, by 
the friendly anxieties of any of my opponents. 



366 ADDRESS. 

If injury accrue to any one by the delay in publishing 
the narrative, the public will not suffer by it. It is already 
known by the publication of the British and American pro- 
jets, the protocols, and the correspondence between the 
respective plenipotentiaries, that the British government 
made at Ghent a demand of the navigation of the Missis- 
sippi, by an article in their projet nearly in the same words 
as those which were employed in the treaty of 1783; that a 
majority of the American commissioners was in favor of 
acceding to that demand, upon the condition that the Bri- 
tish government would concede to us the same fishing li- 
berties, within their jurisdiction, as were secured to us by 
the same treaty of 178J; and that both demands were final- 
ly abandoned. The fact of these mutual propositions was 
communicated by me to the American public in a speech 
which 1 delivered in the house of representatives, on the 
twenty-ninth day of January, 1816. Mr. Hopkinson had 
arraigned the terms of the treaty of peace, and charged 
upon the war and the administration, the loss of the fishing 
liberties, within the British jurisdiction, which we enjoyed 
prior to the war. In vindicating, in my reply to him. the 
course of the government and the conditions of the peace, 
I stated:— 

" When the British commissioners demanded, in their 
projet, a renewal to Great Britain of the right to the navi- 
gation of the Mississippi, secured by the treaty of 1783, a 
bare majority of the American commissioners offered to 
renew it, upon the condition that the liberties in question 
were renewed to us. He was not one of that majority. He 
would not trouble the committee with his reasons for being 
opposed to the offer. A majority of his colleagues, actuated 
he believed by the best motives^ made, however, the offer, 
and it was refused by the British commissioners," \^See 
Daily National Intelligencer^ of the twe)ity-Jirst of March^ 
1816.] And what I thought of my colleagues of the ma- 
jority, appears froni the same extract. The spring after the 
termination of the negociations at Ghent, 1 went to London, 
and there entered upon a new and highly irnpoitant nego- 
ciation with two of them, (Messrs. Adams and Gallatin,) 
which resulted, on the third day of July, 1815, in the Com- 
mercial Convention, which has been since made the basis of 
most of our comniercial arrangements with foreign powers. 
Now, if I had discovered at Ghent, as has been asserted, 



ADDRESS. 367 

that either of them was false and faithless to his country, 
would I have voluntarily commenced with them another 
negociation? Further: there never has been a period, dur- 
ing our whole acquaintance, that Mr. Adams and I have 
not exchanged when we have met, friendly salutations, and 
the courtesies and hospitalities of social intercourse. 

The address proceeds to characterize the support which 
I gave to Mr. Adams as uniiatural. The authors of the 
address have not stated why it is unnatural, and we are 
therefore left to conjecture their meaning. Is it because 
Mr. Adams is from New England, and I am a citizen of 
the west? If it be unnatural in the western states to support 
a citizen of New England, it must be equally unnatural in 
the New England states to support a citizen of the west. — 
And, on the same principle, the New England states ought 
to be restrained from concurring in the election of a citizen 
in the southern states, or the souther: states from co-ope- 
rating in the election of a citizen of New England. And, 
consequently, the support which the last three presidents 
have derived from New England, and that which the vice- 
president recently received, has been most unnaturally given. 
The tendency of such reasoning would be to denationalize 
us, and to contract every part of the union, within the nar- 
row selfish limits of its own section. It would be still worse; 
it would lead to the destruction of the union itself. For if 
it be unnatural in one section to support a citizen in another, 
the union itself must be unnatural; all our ties, all our glo- 
ries, all that is animating in the past, all that is bright and 
cheering in the future, must be unnatural. Happil) , such 
is the admirable texture of our union, that the interests of 
all its parts are closely interwoven. If there are strong 
points of affinity between the south and the west, there are 
interests of not less, if not greater, strength and vigor, bind- 
ing the west and the north, and the east. 

Before I close this address, it is my duty, which I pro- 
ceed to perform with great regret, on account of the occa- 
sion which calls for it, to invite your attention to a letter 
addressed by general Jackson to Mr. Swartwout, on the 
twenty-third day of February last. The names of both the 
general and myself had been before the American public, 
for its highest office. We had both been unsuccessful, i he 
unfortunate have usually some sympathy tor e.sch other. 
For myself, I claim no merit for the cheerful acquiescence 



368 ADDRESS. 

which I have given in a result by which I was excluded 
from the house. I have believed that the decision by the 
constituted authorities, in favor of others, has been founded 
upon a conviction of the superiority of their pretensions. It 
has been my habit, when an election is once decidf^d, to 
forget, as soon as possible, all the irritating circumstances 
which attended the preceding canvass. If one be successful, 
he should be content with his success. If he have lost it, 
railing will do no good. I never gave general Jackson nor 
his friends, any reason to believe that I would, in any con- 
tingency, support him. He had, as I thought, no public 
claim, and I will now add, no personal claims, if these ought 
to be ever considered, to my support. No one, therefore, 
ought to have been disappointed or chagrined that I did 
not vote for him. No more than I was, neither surprised 
nor disappointed, that he did not on a more recent occasion, 
feel it to he his duty to vote for me. After commenting 
upon a particular phrase used in my letter to judge Brooke, 
a calm reconsideration of which will, I think, satisfy any 
person that it was not employed in an offensive sense, if 
indeed it have an offensive sense, the general, in his letter 
to Mr. Swartwout, proceeds to remark: **• No one beheld 
me seeking through art or management, to entice any re- 
presentative in congress from a conscientious responsibility 
to his own, or the wishes of his constituents. No midnight 
taper burnt by me; no secret conclaves were held, nor cabals 
entered into to persuade any one to a violation of pledges 
given, or of instructions received. By me no plans were 
concerted to impair the pure principles of our republican 
institutions, nor to prostrate that fundamental maxim which 
maintains the supremacy of the people's will. On the con- 
trary, having never in any mannner before the people, or 
congress, interfered in the slightest degree with the ques- 
tion, my conscience stands void of offence, and will go qui- 
etly with me, regardless of the insinuations of those who, 
through management, may seek an influence not sanctioned 
by integrity and merit." I am not aware that this defence 
of himself was rendered necessary by any charges brought 
forward against the general. Certainly I never made any 
such charges against him. I will not suppose that in the 
passages cited, he intended to impute to me the misconduct 
which he describes, and yet taking the whole context of his 
letter together, and coupling it with Mr. Kremer's address, 



ADDRESS. 369 

it cannot be disguised that others may suppose he intended 
to refer to me. I am quite sure that if he did, he could 
not have formed those unfavorable opinions of me upon any 
personal observation of my conduct made by himself; tor a 
supposition that they were founded upon his own know- 
ledge, would imply that my lodgings and my person, had 
been subjected to a system of espionage wholly incompati- 
ble with the open, manly, and honorable conduct of a gallant 
soldier. If he designed any insinuations against me, I must 
believe that he made them upon the information of others, 
of whom 1 can only say, that they have deceived his cre- 
dulity, and are entirely unworthy of all credit. I entered 
into no cabals; I held no secret conclaves; I enticed no 
man to violate pledges given or instructions received. — The 
members from Ohio and from the other western states, with 
whom I voted, were all of them as competent as I was to 
form an opinion on the pending election. The M'Arthurs 
and the Metcalfes and the other gentlemen from the west, 
(some of whom nave, if I have not, bravely " made an effort 
to repel an invading foe") are as incapable of dishonor as any 
men breathing — as disinterested, as unambitious, as exclu- 
sively devoted to the best interests of their country. It was 
quite as likely that I should be influenced by them, as that 
I could control their votes. Our object was not to impair, 
but to preserve from all danger, the purity of our republi- 
can institutions. And how I prostrated the maxim which 
maintains the supremacy of the people's will, I am entirely 
at a loss to comprehend. The illusions of the general's 
imagination deceive him. The people of the United States 
had never decided the election in his favor. If the people 
had wiUed his election, he would ha^e been elected. It was 
beause they had not willed his election, nor thai of any 
other candidate, that the duty of making a choice devolved 
on the house of representatives. 

The general remarks: " Mr. Clay has never yet risked 
himself for his country. He has never sacrificed his repose, 
nor made an effort to repel an invading foe; of course his 
conscience assured him it was altogether wrong in any other 
man to lead his countrymen to battle and victory." The logic 
of this conclusion is not very striking. General Jackson 
fights better than he reasons. When have I failed to con- 
cur in awarding appropriate honors to those who on the sea 
or on the land have sustained the glory of our arms, if I 
3B 



370 ADDRESS. 

could not always approve of the acts of some of them? It 
is true, thf)t it has been my misfortune never to have re- 
pelled an invading foe, nor to have led my countrymen to 
victory. If I had I should have left to others to proclaim 
and appreciate the deed. The general's destiny and mine 
have led us in different directions. In the civil employments 
of my country, to which I have been confined, I regret that 
the little service which I have been able to render it, falls 
far short of my wishes. But, why this denunciation of those 
who have not repelled an invading foe, or led our armies 
to victory? At the very moment when he is inveighing 
against an objection to the election to the presidency,^ found- 
ed upon the exclusive military nature of his merits, does 
he not perceive that he is establishing its validity by pro- 
scribing every man who has not successfully fought the 
public enemy? And that, by such a general proscription, 
and the requirement of successful military service as the 
only condition of civil preferment, the inevitable effect would 
be the ultimate establishment of a military government? 

If the contents of the letter to Mr. Swartwout, were such 
as justly to excite surprise, there were other circumstances 
not calculated to diminish it. Of all the citizens of the Uni- 
ted States, that gentleman is one of the last to whom it 
was necessary to address any vindication of general Jack- 
son, He had given abundant evidence of his entire devotion 
to the cause of the general. He was here after the election, 
and was one of a committee who invited the general to a 
public dinner, proposed to be given to him in this place. 
My letter to judge Brooke was published in the papers of 
this city on the twelfth of February. The general's note, 
declining the invitation of Mr. Swartwout, and others, was 
publisiied on the fourteenth, in the National Journal. The 
probability therefore is, that he did not leave this city until 
after he had a full opportunity to receive in a personal in- 
terview with the general, any verbal observations upon it 
which he might have thought proper to make. The letter 
to Mr. Swartwout bears date the twenty- third of February. 
If received by him in New York, it must have reached 
him, in the ordinary course of the mail, on the twenty-fifth 
or twenty-sixth. Whether intended or not as a " private 
conr.munication," and not for the "public eye," as alleged 
by him, there is much probability in believing that its pub- 
lication in New York, on the fourth of March, was then 



ADDRESS. 371 

made, like Mr. Kramer's address, with the view to its ar- 
rival in this city in time to effect my nomination to the 
senate. In point of fact, it reached here the day before the 
senate acted on that nomination. 

Fellow citizens, I am sensible that generally a public of- 
ficer had better abstain from any vindication of his conduct, 
and leave it to the candor and justice of his countrymen, 
under all its attending circumstances. Such has been the 
course which I have heretofore prescribed to myself. This 
is the first, as I hope it may be the last, occasion of my 
thus appearing before you. The separation which has just 
taken place between us, and the venom, if not the vigor, 
of the late onsets upon my public conduct, will, I hope, be 
allowed in this instance to form an adequate apology. It 
has been upwards of twenty years since I first entered the 
public service. Nearly three-fourths of that time, with some 
intermissions, I have represented the same district in con- 
gress, with but little variation in its form. During that long 
period, you have beheld our country passing through scenes 
of peace and war, of prosperity and adversity, and of par- 
ty divisions, local and general, often greatly exasperated 
against each other. I have been an actor in most of those 
scenes. Throughout the whole of them you have clung to 
me with an affectionate confidence which has never been 
surpassed. I have found in your attachment, in every em- 
barrassment in my public career, the greatest consolation, 
and the most encouraging support. I should regatd the loss 
of it as one of the most afflicting public misfortunes, which 
could befal me. That I have often misconceived your true 
interests, is highly probable. That I have ever sacrificed 
them to the object of personal aggrandizement, I utterly 
deny. And for the purity of my motives, however in other 
respects I may be unworthy to approach the Throne of 
Grace and Mercy, I appeal to the justice of my God, with 
all the confidence which can flow from a consciousness of 
perfect rectitude. 

H. CLAY. 

Washington, 26th March, 1825. 



372 



SPEECH AT LEWISBURG. 

of Tra;^ersTci\^vn,h<^M im. 

Mr. Claifs speech at the dinner f, given him at Letvisburg., 
Virginia. [From the Lervisburg, Fa. Palladium., of 
September 11.] 

Lewisburg, August 23 J, 1826. 
The Hon. Henry Clay, 

Sir: — At a meeting of a respectable number of the in- 
habitants of Levvisburg and its vicinity, convened in the 
court house on the twenty second inst. it was unanimously 
determined to greet your arrival amongst them by some 
public demonstration of the respect which they in common 
with a great portion of the community, feel towards one of 
their most distinguished fellow citizens. It was therefore 
unanimously resolved, as the most eligible means of mani- 
festing their feelings, to request the honor of your presence 
at a public dinner to be given at the tavern of Mr. Frazer, 
in the town of Lewisburg, on Wednesday the thirtieth in- 
stant. 

In pursuance of the above measures, we as a committee, 
have been appointed to communicate their resolutions and 
solicit a compliance with their invitation. In performing 
this agreeable duty, we cannot but express our admiration 
of the uniform course which, during a long political career, 
you have pursued with so much honor to yourself and 
country. Although the detractions of envy, and the violence 
of party feeling have endeavoured to blast your fair repu- 
tation, and destroy the confidence reposed in you by the 
citizens of the United States, we rejoice to inform you, 
that the people of the western part of that state which claims 
you as one of her most gifted sons, still retain the same 
high feeling of respect, which they have always manifested 
in spite of the maledictions and bickerings of disappointed 
editors and interested politicians. We cannot close our 
communication M'ithout hailing you as one of the most 
distmguished advocates of that system of internal improve- 
ment which has already proved so beneficial to our country, 



SPEECH AT LEWISBURG. 373 

and which at no distant period will make even these desert 
mountains to blossom as the rose. 

We have the honor to subscribe ourselves, 

Your's with esteem, 
J. G. M'Clenachek, John Beirne, 

James M'Laughlin, J. A. North, 

J. F. Caldwell, Henry Erskine. 

White Sulphur Springs, Hith August, 1826. 
Gentlemen: — I have received the note which you did 
me the honor on yesterday to address to me, inviting me in 
behalf of a respectable number of the citizens of Lewisburg 
and its vicinity, to a public dinner at Mr. Frazer's tavern, 
on Wednesday next, which they have the goodness to 
propose, in consequence of my arrival amongst them, as a 
manifestation of their respect. Such a compliment was most 
unexpected by me on a journey to Washington, by this route, 
recommended to my choice by the pure air of a mountain 
region, and justly famed mineral waters, a short use of 
which I hoped might contribute to the perfect re- establish- 
ment of my health. The gratification which I derive from 
this demonstration of kindness and confidence, springs, in 
no small degree, from the consideration that it is the spon- 
taneous testimony of those with whom I share a common 
origin, in a venerated state, endeared to me by an early tie 
of respect and affection, which no circumstance can ever 
dissolve. In communicating to that portion of the citizens 
of Lewisburg and its vicinity, who have been pleased thus 
to favor me, by their distinguished notice, my acceptance 
of their hospitable invitation, I pray you to add my profound 
acknowledgments. And of the friendly and flattering manner 
an which you have conveyed it, and for the generous sym- 
pathy, characteristic of Virginia, which you are so obliging 
as to express, on account of the detractions of which I have 
been the selected object, and the meditated victim, be as- 
sured that I shall always retain a lively and grateful re- 
anembrance. 

I am, gentlemen, with great esteem and regard, faithfully, 

your obedient servant, 

Henry Clay. 
Messrs. M'-Clenachen, North, McLaughlin, Caldxvell, 

Beirne, and Erskine, &fc, &fc. 



374 SPEECH AT LEWISBURG. 

TOAST 

Seventh. Our distinguished g-uest, Henry Clay — The 
statesman, orator, patriot and philanthropist; his splendid 
talents shed lustre on his native state, his eloquence is an 
ornament to his country. 

When this toast was drank, Mr. Clay rose, and addressed 
the company in a speech, which occupied nearly an hour in 
the delivery, of which we can only attempt an imperfect 
sketch. 

He said, that he had never before felt so intensely the 
want of those powers of eloquence which had been just 
erroneously ascribed to him. He hoped, however, that in 
his plain and unaffected language, he might be allowed, 
without violating any established usage which prevails here, 
to express his grateful sensibility, excited by the sentiment 
with which he had been honored, and for the kind and 
respectful consideration of him manifested on the occasion 
which had broughtthem together. In passing through my na- 
tive state, said he, towards which I have ever borne, and shall 
continue, in all vicissitudes, to cherish the greatest respect 
and affection, I expected to be treated with its accustomed 
courtesy and private hospitality. But I did not anticipate 
that I should be the object of such public, distinguished, 
and cordial manifestations of regard. In offering you the 
poor and inadequate retuin of my warm and respectful 
thanks, I pray you to believe that I shall treasure up these 
testimonies among the most gratifying reminiscences of my 
life. The public service which I have rendered ray country, 
your too favorable opinion of which has prompted you to 
exhibit these demonstrations of your esteem, has fallen far 
below the measure of usefulness, which 1 should have been 
happy to have filled. I claim for it only the humble merit 
of pure and patriotic intention. Such as it has been, I have 
not always been fortunate enough to give satisfaction to 
every section and to all the great interests of our country. 

When an attempt was made to impose upon a new state, 
about to be admitted into the union, restrictions incompatible 
as I thought with her co-equal sovereign power, I was 
charged in the north with being too partial to the south, 
and as being friendly to that unfortunate condition of sla- 
very, of the evils of which none are more sensible than I am. 
At another period, when I believed that the industry of 



SPEECH AT LEWISBURG. SfS 

this country required some protection against the selfish and 
contracted legislation of foreign powers, and to constitute 
it a certain and safe source of supply, in all exigences; the 
charge against me was transposed, and I was converted into 
a foe of southern, and an infatuated friend of northern and 
western interests. 

There were not wanting persons, in every section of the 
union, in another stage of our history, to accuse me with 
rashly contributing to the support of a war, the only alter- 
native left to our honor by the persevering injustice of a 
foreign nation. These contradictory charges and perverted 
views' gave me no concern, because 1 was confident that 
time and truth would prevail over all misconceptions; and 
because they did not impeach my public integrity. — But I 
confess I was not prepared to expect the aspersions which 
I have experienced on account of a more recent discharge 
of public duty. My situation on the occasion to which I 
refer, was most peculiar and extraordinary, unlike that of 
any other American citizen. One of the three candidates 
for the presidency, presented to the choice of the house of 
representatives, was out of the question for notorious reasons 
now admitted by all. Limited as the competition was to 
the other two, I had to choose between a statesman long 
experienced at home and abroad in numerous civil situations, 
and a soldier, brave, gallant and successful, but a mere 
soldier, who, although he had also filled several civil offices, 
had quickly resigned them all, frankly acknowledging, in 
some instances, his incompetency to discharge their duties. 

it has been said that I had some differences with the 
present chief magistrate, at Ghent. It is true that we did 
not agrer- on one of the many important questions which 
arose during the negociations in that city, but the difference 
equally applied to our present minister at London and to 
the lamented Bayard, between whom and myself, although 
we belonged to opposite political parties, there existed a 
warm friendship to the hour of his death. It was not of a 
nature to prevent our cooperation together in the public 
sei vice, as is demonstrated by the convention at London 
subs<^queiitly negotiated by Messrs. Adams, Gallatin and 
myself. It was a difference of opinion on a point of expe- 
diency, and did not relate to any constitutional or fimda- 
mental principle. But with respect to the conduct of the 
distinguished citizen of Tennessee, I had solemnly er- 



3?6 SPEECH AT LEWISBURG. 

pressed, under the highest obligations, opinions, which, 
whether right or wrong, were sincerely and honestly enter- 
tained, and are still held. These opinions related to a 
military exercise of power believed to be arbitrary and un- 
constitutional. 1 should have justly subjected myself to the 
grossest inconsistency, if I had given him my suffrage. I 
thought if he were elected, the sword and the constitution, 
bad companions, would be brought too near together. I 
could not have foreseen that, fully justified as I have been 
by those very constituents, in virtue of whose authority, I 
exerted the right of free suffrage, I should nevertheless be 
charged with a breach of duty and corruption by strangers 
to them, standing in no relation to them but that of being 
citizens of other states, members of the confederacy. It is 
in vain that these revilcrs have been called upon for their 
proofs; have been defied, and are again invited to enter upon 
any mode of fair investigation and trial — shrinking from 
every impartial examination, they persevere, with increased 
zeal, in the propagation of calumny, under the hope of 
supplying by the frequency and boldness of asseveration, 
the want of truth and the deficiency of evidence; until we 
have seen the spectacle exhibited of converting the hall of 
the first legislative assembly upon earth, on the occasion of 
discussions which above all others should have been cha- 
racterized by dignity, calmness and temperance, into a 
theatre for spreading suspicions and groundless imputations 
against an absent and innocent individual. 

Driven from every other hold, they have seized on the 
only plank left within their grasp, that of my acceptance, of 
the office of secretary of stale, which has been asserted to 
be the consummation of a previous corrupt arrangement. 
What can I oppose to such an assertion, but positive, pe- 
remptory and unqualified denial, and a repetition of the 
demand for proof and trial? The office to which I have 
been appointed is that of the country, created by it, and 
administered for its benefit. In deciding whether i should 
accept it or not, I did not take counsel from those who, 
foreseeing the probability of my designation for it, sought 
to deter me from its acceptance by fabricating anticipated 
charges, which would have been preferred with the same 
zeal and alacrity, however I might hare decided. I took 
counsel from my friends, from my duty, from my conscious 
innocence of unworthy and false imputations. I was not 



SPEECH AT LEWISBURG. 3?? 

left at liberty by either my enemies or my friends to decline 
the office. I would willingly have declined it from an 
unaffected distrust of my ability to perform its high duties, 
if I could have honorably declined it. I hope the uniform 
tenor of my whole public life will protect me against the 
supposition of any unreasonable avidity for public employ- 
ment. During the administration of that illustrious man, 
to whose civil services more than to those of any other 
American patriot, living or dead, this country is indebted 
for the blessings of its present constitution, now more than 
ten years ago, the mission to Russia, and a place in his 
cabinet were successively offered me. A place in his cabinet, 
at that period of my life, was more than equivalent to any 
place under any administration, at my present more ad- 
vanced age. His immediate successor tendered to me the 
same place in his cabinet, which he anxiously urged me to 
accept, and the mission to England. Gentlemen, I hope 
you will believe that tar from being impelled by any vain 
or boastful spirit, to mention these things, I do it with hu- 
miliation and mortification. 

If I had refused the department of state, the same indi- 
viduals who now, in the absence of all proof, against all 
probability, and in utter disregard of all truth, proclaim the 
existence of a corrupt previous arrangement, would have 
propagated the same charge with the same affected confi- 
dence which they now unblushingly assume. And it would 
have been said, with at least much plausibility, that I had 
contributed to the election of a chief magistrate, of whom 
I thought so unfavorably that I would not accept that place 
in his cabinet which is generally regarded as the first. I 
thought it my duty, unawed by their denunciations, to 
proceed in the office assigned me by the president and 
senate, to render the country the best service of which my 
poor abilities are capable. If this administration should 
show itself unfriendly to American liberty and to free and 
liberal institutions; if it should be conducted upon a system 
adverse to those principles of public policy, which I have 
ever endeavoured to sustain, and I should be found still 
clinging to office, then nothing which could be said by those 
who are inimical to me, would be undeserved. 

But the president ought not to have appointed one who 
had voted for him. Mr. Jefferson did not think so, who 
called to his cabinet a gentleman who had voted for him, 
,3 C 



378 SPEECH AT LEWISBURG. 

in the most warmly contested election that has ever occurred 
in the house of representatives, and who appointed to other 
highly important offices other members of the same house, 
who voted for him. Mr. Madison did not think so, who 
did not feel himself restrained from sending me on a foreign 
service, because I had supported his election. Mr. Monroe 
did not think so, who appointed in his cabinet a gentleman, 
now filling the second office in the government, who attended 
the caucus that nominated, and warmly and efficiently 
espoused his election. But, suppose the president acted upon 
the most disinterested doctrine which is now contended for 
by those who opposed his election, and were to appoint to 
public office from their ranks only, to the entire exclusion 
of those who voted for him, would he then escape their 
censure? No! we have seen him charged, for that equal 
distribution of the public service among every class of 
citizens, which has hitherto characterized his administration 
with the nefarious purpose of buying up portions of the 
community. A spirit of denunciation is abroad. — With 
some, condemnation right or wrong, is the order of the 
day. No matter what prudence and wisdom may stamp the 
measures of the administration, no matter how much the 
prosperity of the country may be advanced, or what public 
evils may be averted, under its guidance, there are persons 
who would make general, indiscriminate and interminable 
opposition. This is not a fit occasion, nor perhaps am I a 
fit person to enter upon a vindication of its measures. But 
I hope I shall be excused for asking what measure of 
domestic policy has been proposed or recommended by the 
present executive, which has not its prototype in previous 
acts or recommendations of administrations at the head of 
■which was a citizen of Virginia? Can the liberal and high- 
minded people of this state, condemn measures emanating 
from a citizen of Massachusetts, which when proposed by 
a Virginian, commanded their express assent or silent acqui- 
escence, or to which, if in any instance they made opposition, 
it was respectful, limited and qualified? The present ad- 
ministration desires only to be judged by its measures, and 
invites the strictest scrutiny and the most watchful vigilance 
on the part of the public. 

With respect to the Panama mission, it is true that it was 
not recommended by any preceding administration, because 
the circumstances of the world were not then such as to 



SPEECH AT LEWISBURG. 379 

present it as a subject for discussion. But, during that of 
Mr. Monroe, it has been seen that it was a matter of con- 
sideration, and there is every reason to believe, if he were 
now at the head of affairs, his determination would corres- 
pond with that of his successor. Let me suppose that it was 
the resolution of this country, under no circumstances, to 
contract with foreign powers intimate public engagements, 
and to remain altogether unbound by any treaties of alliance, 
what should have been the course taken with the very 
respectful invitation which was given to the United States 
to be represented at Panama? Haughtily folding your arms, 
would you have given it a cold and abrupt refusal? Or 
would you not rather accept it, send ministers, and in a 
friendly and respectful manner, endeavour to satisfy those 
who are looking to us for counsel and example, and imitating 
our free institutions, that there is no necessity for such an 
alliance; that the dangers which alone could, in the opinion 
of any one have justified it have vanished, and that it is 
not good for them or for us? 

What may be the nature of the instructions with which 
our ministers may be charged, it is not proper that I should 
state; but all candid and reflecting men must admit, that we 
have great interests in connexion with the southern republics, 
independent of any compacts of alliance. Those republics, 
now containing a population of upwards of twenty millions, 
duplicating their numbers probably in periods still shorter 
than we do, comprising within their limits the most abun- 
dant sources of the precious metals, offer to our commerce, 
to our manufactures, to our navigation, so many advantages 
that none can doubt the expediency of cultivating the most 
friendly relations with them. If treaties of commerce and 
friendship, and liberal stipulations in respect to neutral and 
belligerent rights, could be negotiated with each of them at 
its separate seat of government, there is no doubt that much 
greater facilities for the conclusion of such treaties present 
themselves at a point where all being represented, the way 
may be smoothed and all obstacles removed by a disclosure 
of the views and wishes of all, and by mutual and friendly 
explanations. There was one consideration which had much 
weight with the executive, in the decision to accept the 
mission; and that was the interest which this country has, 
and especially the southern states, in the fate and fortunes 
of the island of Cuba. No subject of our foreign relations 



380 SPEECH AT LEWISBURG. 

has created with the executive government more anxious 
concern, than that of the condition of that island and the 
possibility of prejudice to the southern states, from the 
convulsions to which it might be exposed. It was believed, 
and is yet believed, that the dangers which, in certain con- 
tingencies might threaten our quiet and safety, may be more 
successively averted at a place at which all the American 
powers should be represented than any where else. And I 
have no hesitation in expressing the firm conviction that, if 
there be one section of this union more than all others in- 
terested in the Panama mission and the benefits which may 
flow from it, that section is the south. It was therefore with 
great and unaffected surprise that I witnessed the obliquity 
ot those political views which led some gentlemen from that 
quarter to regard the measure, as it might operate on the 
southern states in an unfavorable light. Whatever may be 
the result of the mission, its moral effect in Europe will be 
considerable, and it cannot fail to make the most friendly 
impressions upon our southern neighbors. It is one of which 
it is difficult, in sober imagination, to conceive any possible 
mischievous consequences, and which the executive could 
not have declined, in my opinion, without culpable neglect 
of the interests of this country, and without giving dissatis- 
faction to nations whose friendship we are called upon by 
every dictate of policy to conciliate. 

Tht-re are persons who would impress on the southern 
states the belief that they have just cause of apprehending 
danger to a certain portion of their property from the pre- 
sent administration. It is not difficult to comprehend the 
object and the motive of these idle alarms. What measure 
of the present administration gives any just occasion for 
the smallest apprehension to the tenure by which that species 
of property is held? However much the president and the 
members of his administration may deprecate the existence 
ot slavery among us as the greatest evil, with which we are 
afflicted, there is not one of them that does not believe that 
the constitution of the general government, confers no au- 
thority to interpose between the master and his slave, none 
to apply an adequate remedy, if indeed there be any remedy 
within the scope of human power. Suppose an object of 
these alarmists were accomplished, and the slave holding 
states were united in the sentiment that the policy of this 
government in all time to come, should be regulated on the 



SPEECH AT LEVVISBURG. ggj 

basis of the fact of slavery, would not union on the one side 
lead to union on the other? And would not such a fatal 
division of the people and states of this confederacy produce 
perpetual mutual irritation and exasperation, and ultimatelv 
disunion Itself? The slave holding states cannot forget that 
they are now m a minority, which is in a constant relative 
diminution, and should certainly not be the first to put forth 
a principle of public action by which they would be the 
greatest losers. 

I am but too sensible of the unreasonable trespass on 
your time which I have committed, and of the egotism of 
which my discourse has partaken. I must depend for my 
apology upon the character of the times, on the venom of 
the attacks which have been made upon my character and 
conduct, and upon the generous sympathy of the gentlemen 
here assembled. During this very journey a paper has been 
put into my hands, in which a member of the house of 
representatives is represented to have said that the distin- 
guished individual at the head of the government and my- 
self have been indicted by the people. If that is the case 
1 presume that some defence is lawful. By the bye if thJ 
honorable member is to have the sole conduct of the pro- 
secution without the aid of other counsel, 1 think that it is 

not difficult to predict that his clients will be non suited 

and that they will be driven out of court with the usual 

judgment pronounced in such cases. 

In conclusion, I beg leave to offer a toast which, if you 

are as dry as I am, wilM hope, be acceptable for the sake 

ot the wine, if not the sentiment. 

" The continuation of the turnpike road which passes 

through Lewisburg, and success to the cause of in^ternal 

improvement, under every auspices." 

He then took his seat amid the repeated cheers of the 
whole company. '^ 



TUE END, 



